City Lights
by kantellis
Summary: AU / Connex. World Wide Connection Net. Everybody's connected and there are those who dive in too deep. Everybody's controlled, although only a few are aware of that. Some will do everything to take it over. Some can never escape it. Can anyone be free from it?
1. Prologue

**This is actually a third story about my favourite set of characters : Lavi, Yuu, Leo, Sharon, Alice, Elliot (first two are still under proofreading but will be posted one day =))**

 **AU : internet super-development and apocalypse. Prologue includes three short parts about the past, present and future of the world I created and the characters.**

 **All characters belong to their authors. Story is mine.**

 **Comments are greatly appreciated.**

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 **000.00011 I was**

The tiny room of a small flat was filled with all kinds of emergency provisions. The heavily pregnant woman had quite some difficulty maneuvering between the boxes of canned food and first aid kits. She found it both extremely annoying and unbelievably sweet that her husband gathered all the stuff in their very limited space. With the baby coming we can't leave it all to chance, he said, we have to be prepared.

She huffed irritated when she pushed one of the smaller boxes off to the floor. She crouched down slowly to lift it up and then moved up, breathing deeply. Damn, it was getting tiresome, she mused and stroked her belly, feeling the baby move under her skin.

She glanced at the widescreen on the wall and frowned. The news lady was all smiles and sunshine, saying how the world was the best place to live in and how the times were fine and beautiful.

'How stupid you think we are,' the woman muttered with a shake of her head and went to the kitchen, trying her best to ignore the ceaseless noise of the TV that could not be switched off.

The world was brewing, this she knew without getting too much into details of what was happening. There was something going on and you could feel it in the air. The uneasiness and anxiety were thick and sticky, digital and physical outbursts of discontent more and more frequent. The world was shaking in all possible dimensions and the silly talk from worldwide media was only fueling it all up. In the world where you could find everything and everyone without much effort the soothing and idyllic talk was like a fairy tale for the biggest blockheads. Or those who chose not to know. She, however, was pretty much aware of how the media was slowly but surely taking away their freedom and privacy. How they were influencing them and brainwashing the weakest ones. She knew because her husband was trying to stop it with his computer skill and net of people alike. That's why they were ready at any time to leave and hide.

The woman shook away the troubling thoughts and busied herself with preparing whatever she could for the dinner. She made her work swift and was about to finish when she heard heavy, rushed footsteps on the staircase. In no time, her husband burst into the flat, breathless, anxious.

'Shelly, honey, we're going,' he panted out and grabbed her hand. She twisted it away.

'What are you talking about?' she demanded and stood up to his burning gaze. He sighted exasperated, took a deep breath to calm himself and waved towards the East.

'They are coming, the army or however you call it. They're coming fast and we need to get to the safe place now,' he explained patiently. She watched him for a moment and then glanced at the widescreen where the lady was talking about the rebirth of natural environment in the peaceful times of high awareness. She sighted and made to follow her husband, who was already standing by the doors, emergency bag in his hand. This was ridiculous, she mused, and then stopped rooted to the spot when she felt a strong contraction. She took a few deep breaths under the panicked gaze of her husband. She looked up at him and smiled lightly and made to move on.

She stopped again with a pained gasp as a stronger contraction squeezed her from the inside.

'Honey, will you bear till the safe place?' the man asked extremely worried. She wanted to answer but what left her mouth was another gasp. She felt her legs give in momentarily and he caught her falling. She was breathing heavily now.

After what felt like eternity she calmed down and looked up at her husband apologetically. She asked for a bit more to be able to get up and he assured her that they would probably be fine in their flat anyway. She wanted to add something more but then a sudden thought hit her: it was silent.

She looked around and saw the widescreen transmission frozen and blinking. And then it disappeared. For a moment the only sound was their breaths. They looked at each with wide eyes, with a mix of worry and anxiety.

Then, an unidentified noise started and it was getting louder with every quickening heartbeat. Soon enough, both of them were trying to block out their ears, screaming to minimize the influence of the high, constant screeching sound. It did not take long before they both passed out.

The woman came back to her senses to the annoying, constant ringing in her ears. She whimpered as she lifted herself up from the floor, feeling the pulsating headache dull her senses. She tried covering her ears in the silly attempt at blocking the sounds but it changed nothing.

She stopped abruptly when she felt her hand wet and sticky. She looked at her shaking hand and hasped panicked, seeing it all covered in blood. What the hell happened?

She turned sharply to her husband, panic rising in her, breathing coming in short gasps. She saw him, lying motionless on the floor, blood trailing down his skin from ears, nose, mouth and eyes. She screamed helplessly and bitter tears fell down her cheeks. She moved over to him and hugged his still figure, crying herself into exhaustion.

She was out of tears and energy when she felt her contractions start once again. Despite her fatigue she cried in sudden pain and protest. Her voice sounded strangely muffled by the static in her ears but she couldn't care less as her baby girl chose that most inconvenient moment to be born.

 **000.00010 I am**

The darkness was surrounding him, filling his mind and senses. It was the thick cocoon around his whole self-awareness and it was wrapped tightly around him.

He heard a sound. It punctured the deep silence painfully. It brought sharp and sudden pain, piercing his skull through and filling it to the brim. He wanted to scream but he couldn't find his voice.

He felt he was hyperventilating and he looked up panicked.

The blackness cleared with a blink or two and he saw the urban night stretch before him. He saw countless lights gleaming and glittering below and in front of him. He saw black towers against the desaturated sky that never becomes completely black, instead carrying a cold, artificial glow. He heard the constant buzz of life and existence flow around him and drown him inside.

There was a giggle against the noise.

A shadow entered his field of vision and it swayed as if dancing. There was another giggle and he blinked the silhouette into focus. A girl stopped in front of him and looked down on him. Was he sitting? No, he was kneeling on the cold, wet rooftop.

The girl bounced over to him and crouched to even their eye levels. She tilted her head to the side playfully and watched him for a moment completely still.

She reached out with her hand and he tried to back away in reflex, however, he hasn't moved an inch. He was restrained and he realized it only then. The girl smiled widely and insanely. She caressed his cheek eerily, her nails grazing his skin ever so slightly. Why the hell did he feel it?

She jumped away as suddenly as she neared him. She went to the edge of the roof and started walking there and back again, swaying, dancing. She started humming some merry melody as she dared the wind to push her over. There was no wind, damn it!

She did a dangerous pirouette and, in the reflex of grabbing her, he stretched his muscles against his momentarily forgotten restraints. However, he stayed pinned to his place and she never lost her balance. She stood there with her back to him, her arms spread to the sides as if she wanted to embrace the whole dirty, noisy city beneath her.

'You said you never wanted to die a plain death,' she sang in a quiet and soft voice. 'You said you wanna die like movie starts with a bang and blaze and blast.' She gazed at him over her shoulder and smiled widely. It was only then that he registered her pale, fair skin reflecting the city lights around. It was only then that he noticed her dark hair gleaming against the black buildings, flowing as if on the night wind. And he saw her eyes, myriads of golden specs dancing in them, contrasting with deep violet irises.

She turned around, amused by his careful gaze. She laughed out loud and clear and danced a few steps along the edge. And then she screamed at the top of her lungs.

'You said you wanna die like stars, shine brightly and explode in millions of lights! You wanna die falling, crashing down like a comet, burning and destroying as you go!' She stopped on the spot and turned to him, her gleaming eyes catching his mind, her mischievous grin making him anxious.

'Watch me fall as you always wished to!' she sang quietly in a ringing voice, delighted and cheerful, she laughed spreading her arms and staring to the sky and screamed. 'Watch me dance in the countless lights as your dreams shatter and scatter around me! Watch me shine brightly in the unstopping light of the never sleeping city of despair and lies! Watch me explode in millions of shards that rain down on those watching, remembering!' With that she took a step backwards.

He jumped up with a soundless cry. Velvet restraints bruised his skin painfully and they slid down his wrists. He fell forward with the unexpected speed, watching mesmerized as the girl was slowly disappearing behind the edge. She was smiling widely, watching him fly towards her.

He woke up with a jolt as he fell painfully from his bed. The heavy collision with the floor drew air from his lungs and for a moment he lay there breathless, his body trembling and fighting for oxygen. Tears fell down his cheek and his heart was racing heavily, unpleasantly. He squeezed his eye shut.

It took him quite some time to calm down enough to get up. On trembling legs he went to his bathroom and washed his face with cold water to help his mind clear away the disturbing images. His head was throbbing mercilessly and the pain originated from the same place as usual - his right eye socket.

He had to fight the urge to scratch away what was there, winning over the instincts only because he knew it'd just make things worse, he'd make it bleed again.

Fucking dream, he thought angrily and smashed his fist into the wall. Fucking dream that strangely always made him wonder if it really is only this. After all, some dreams and nightmares were real in this freaking world, he knew that.

He looked up at his tired reflection in the mirror.

Should I know this girl? He mused and let a string of curses leave his mouth. Like hell he should! He never met her. She was the sick projection of his mind that existed only to torment him into madness. To make him lose it one day.

He closed the water angrily and went back to his bedroom, taking painkillers and a glass of water on his way.

Wonder where the dream will end next time, he thought mockingly as he fell onto his bed, aching all over his goddamn body. That, however, did not stop him from falling asleep almost immediately, the violet brilliant eyes still in the back of his mind.

 **000.00001 I will be**

The girl logged off immediately from her master machine and checked the time: it was just perfect to go to the club. She changed quickly into some fitting clothes and went about the flat switching off all the equipment. On her quick way she grabbed a powerful but rather small headgear and put it on as she sped down the stairs. She mounted her motorbike and rushed through the City and outside the Wall. Would she be able to find the fleeting light?

But then another thought appeared in her head: what if They were trying to lure her out?

What if Leo, whatever his group was, was trying to pull her deeper, even in real life?

Then again, finding someone's digital imprint and connecting it to a physical body was impossible, right?. Even if They noticed her doings in Connex They would never possibly know who she was. Neither would Leo.

Did she, by any chance, let it slip where she was working? She tried hard to go through all the parties she had, but damn it, the alcohol was always too much as the nights progressed. She was sure, however, that she'd never rant about her work or anything. Not even to the certain redhead bartender who was always so eagerly serving her drinks.

Was he doing that on purpose?

Could he possibly know what she was digging into?

But she was only doing it for a short time and the guy was acting the same ever since she saw him first a few years before. Back then she did nothing suspicious. Was it a trap set ever since she started her work? Was he in league with Leo?

The weirdo guy from Wall once said that it was all visible in the eyes and then pinned her with his sparkling, violet ones. But the redhead looked perfectly normal! Despite the eyepatch, she remembered and wondered, not for the first time, what it was hiding. Always, when she stared at him for a fraction too long or too curiously he diverted her attention quite efficiently. He was really good at that. Maybe she could try asking outright? But then, if he was with Them she'd be in real danger, showing her interest. Shit.

However, all her grand plans went to hell when, arriving to Batcave Industries, she learned that the redhead was not there. She cursed her bad luck but decided to stay nevertheless. She ordered her drink and scanned the room for any signs of Them. The night looked like it'd be long.

Few drinks and lots of empty talk later she finally caught an interesting sight. There was a small mixed group in the lounge that had a strange aura around them. They never moved from the spot just sat there, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. They looked suspiciously calm and twitchy at the same time, strangely present and absent. She saw them all wearing Connex plugins on their heads, poorly hidden in their hair or under their clothes. Their minds were probably not there anyway.

And then one of them moved.

One of the guys blinked and frowned and then looked up straight at her.

She stood there frozen to the spot, returning the careful gaze, although where he was frowning, she was starting to panic. How was that possible?

The man smirked slightly and then three of his companions twitched and got up from their seats. With no delay they moved through the crowd straight at her.

She acted out of reflex, completely without thinking. She turned on the spot and made it fast for the back exit she frequently used. She all but run through the parking lot and jumped onto her motorbike. She set off to the sound of fired guns and sped down the empty street not looking back and it was only just before the Outer Wall East Gate that she realized they followed. She cursed against the blowing wind and took the long and twisted route around the City. The maze of turns made them all slow down but it also prevented them from shooting at her and she disappeared behind the corners before they could aim. But damn they kept to her tail!

A thousand thoughts swirled inside of her head as she rode. A thousand questions without answers. What actually did They want from her? Did They know somehow that she was digging around? What did They want from her?

She almost lost control over the bike when she suddenly realized one thing. The Wall weirdo knew she was digging around. Even if she never told him she was actually sniffing around, he was constantly taunting her with strange questions and disturbing facts. He sure goddamn knew she'd catch the bait. Asshole.

She turned yet another corner and passed the Inner Wall, furious with her naïveté. The freaking idiot played her like a puppet and she did what he wanted.

Was the redhead also in this?

She almost fell out from the sharp turn when the streets were becoming narrower and narrower. Damn she went too deep into the Centre. If she continued on she'd step into the most inner zone of the City in no time and people say strange things about the area. She never went there, not wanting to prove the stories true or wrong on her own skin. And now, now she was heading straight into it, she realized with a curse. And with the chase on her tail she had no real choice.

She turned one last time and sped down the street straight into the Old Market Square. She stopped right before the buildings there and turned around to face her opponents. She took out the gun she carried with herself but never used outside the training room. She aimed at them and watched them stop uncertain right before the area's agreed border.

They looked sideways at each other and with no more delay neared her.

She took in a deep breath and aimed.

A high, metallic screech resounded around them and there was long, low rumble that bounced from the walls. For a few seconds they all stood surprised, in a complete silence. And when They turned around to flee, They all stopped abruptly, their bodies bent backwards and they screamed terrifyingly. Their voiced mingled with the sound of electric discharge and they all fell to the ground motionless.

The hell was that, she thought as she watched the scene stunned. She hasn't budged in inch, too afraid the same thing would happen to her. However, when the pitiful cries stopped, silence reigned again, with even the wind absent.

'So you came here finally,' a voice said way too close behind her and she couldn't suppress a shiver. She didn't recognize its cold and steel-sharp timbre and she knew it did not bring anything good.

She wanted to say something to that but what left her mouth was a terrible cry as electricity passed through her body. The pain was unbelievable and she knew she would not be able to withstand it long. She felt every bit of her body burning and freezing in the same moment, she felt all her cells vibrate ceaselessly. And it hurt, it hurt so goddamn much. Blinding light filled her eyes and the only sound left was her own scream.

It all stopped as suddenly as it started, but when it did, the darkness took her.


	2. 001 00001 Morning

**001.00001 Morning**

Shy rays of morning sun slipped through the window and crawled along the floor of a spacious and rather empty room. Wind whistled through the loose frames and entwined with the sound of slow, calm breathing. Light reached the messy bed and the bare feet, sticking outside the covers. After a moment, the figure on the bed sighted and wrapped the whole body tight in the duvet, swishing of fabric filling the early day silence.

Alarm went off.

There was a silent curse and a hand reached out to the device to switch it off. There was a bit more to rustling and tossing and turning before the woman finally decided she had to get up after all. Damn work.

She twisted out of the covers not without problems and sleepily went about her morning routine.

Fresh and steaming coffee was ready in the coffee machine the moment she entered, putting finishing touches to her clothes. She sat down to her breakfast and put on the Connex earpiece to listen to some morning news. They continued on when she made her way four floors down the stairs and when she jumped onto her motorbike. She switched the news off so that the monotonous voice wouldn't disturb her and she rushed on between the gray and monolithic blocks of flats, standing tall and silent in the morning sun.

She sped down the rather empty streets marveling yet again at how calm the City was. She was raised by her grandmother on stories about how vibrant and lively it used to be. About how densely populated it was before Noise and Silence came, twenty five years ago. And till this day no one knew what really happened back then, apart from the worldwide epidemics of ceaseless noise and deafening silence that happened one after another. And she wanted to know that, wanted to know what killed her parents and thousands of other people. However, there were no deeper reasons into her actions, it was plain curiosity that pushed her into the research. And somehow, it was the same curiosity that pushed her to work where she did.

She parked her motor in front of Fort I Wall Maintenance Centre. It was an ancient looking building in red brick that was centuries old, a remnant of terrible wars and great architecture, beautiful in its deadly purpose. It was surrounded by trees that hid its presence from unwanted visitors as much as the electromagnetic barrier did, only letting the staff in.

She strode to the entrance, shivering only ever so slightly when the passed another security check – a biometric barrier. She heard in her head an automatic voice say she was permitted to enter and so she did.

'Good morning, Sharon,' was the greeting that she accepted with a small smile and replied in the same way.

'How was the night shift?' she asked putting her helmet away and going to the small changing room next to the office.

'Eventless,' the guy replied neutrally, if only a bit louder for her to hear. 'You're diving this early?' he asked curiously.

'The sooner the better,' she replied with a smirk and went out all ready in the Connexsuit. 'Why so surprised, Reim?' The guy shook his head.

'It just never ceases to amaze me how eager you are for that,' he replied with a shiver. 'I try everything to simply sit by the computer and monitor others diving. The feeling is just...' he shivered instead of finishing and Sharon smirked wider at that.

'That's just because you're not open for the connection,' she said knowingly and he just frowned at him. 'If you'd welcome the intrusion into your mind it's be way better and easier.' Reim huffed disbelievingly.

'I guard my mind from alien intrusions,' he muttered and turned back to his screen. She knew there were a lot of people like that - untrusting to the technology that was developing rapidly. They feared being influenced and manipulated and they had a good reason for that - before Noise media were doing just that. They were ignoring everything to sustain the illusion of idyll that was covering up for growing conflicts and weapon build up.

Thankfully, no worldwide war happened. Bigger and smaller conflicts occurred in various areas but when the main, joined forces were heading at each other Noise came. She heard that at one point, mere minutes before the clash, sound wave spread through the world and a piercing, high sound resonated everywhere, throwing everybody to their knees and sending them at least unconscious. Many died with their brains blown away. Along with Sharon's father. Her mother died a few hours later, after giving birth to her, but the Noise continued, quieter but persistent, for a year driving people crazy.

What she heard from her grandmother was that after that time a year of Silence came, a year when no single sound occurred. Which caused another wave of deaths from people who could not stand it. As a result, population rate dropped terrifyingly in those two years and a lot of abandoned urban areas popped up everywhere, people moved to the city centers that were surrounded by tight security measurements.

That brought Sharon's mind back to where she was. She shook the strange stories from her head and stepped into the connection room. She sat in the middle and adjusted the headgear in its proper place. She heard inside her ears a question if she was ready and she confirmed.

There was a quick shot of electricity that passed through her body and the view changed in a blink of an eye. She was one with the Wall.

Over the time she learned not to take a deep breath of fresh air the moment she saw the green surroundings of Fort I. Now, she just smiled at the slightly desaturated, a bit two dimensional view, shimmering in electric blue. She loved how the world looked like seen through the Wall.

'How's the surface?' she heard straight in her head.

'As beautiful as always,' she thought merrily. 'I'm going for a walk,' she announced and formed an order in her head to make the Wall carry her forward.

On her way she checked all the links and nodes of the barrier, at the gates she poked all security hooks and it looked like everything was just fine.

There was a disturbance in the field.

Sharon looked around. She was on the other side of the Wall from Fort I and everything seemed to be perfectly normal. All the glimmering lines connecting to the barrier were fine and solid, as they should be. There was, however, a slight feeling of unease.

She called up to Reim to check how things look at his end and he confirmed that everything was ok.

The wave of disturbance passed through her digital existence once again. She turned her vision the other way.

There was a faint shadow glimmering blue like the power lines. It swayed. Sharon called Reim again.

'No, everything's fine,' he said in her head. 'Why are you asking all of a sudden?'

'I thought I felt something,' she mused and watched the shadow grow thicker. 'Never mind,' she added and didn't really pay attention to what she was hearing in her head. Instead, she was staring at the wide, mischievous grin shining through the distorted silhouette, disturbing the view.

'Welcome, Wall Witch,' the shadow screeched with a laugh and took a step forward. It materialized in an instant, forming a young guy, dark-haired and grinning madly. How did he know she was there? How the hell he was there and unnoticeable to the system?

'Let me help you get free,' he sang happily and there was a sharp electrical wave that tore through her mental existence. She would have screamed if she had lungs.

'Sharon! Hey, Sharon,' he heard in her hazy head. 'Are you ok? Your imprint in the Wall wavered for a moment there and now it's going crazy! Do you hear me?'

'I'm fine,' she thought and did a mental shake of her head. 'There's just something to fix,' she added and turned her head to look at the smiling guy.

Wait. She turned her head? She frowned and looked down surprised to see legs there. She watched her hands and she turned them up and down. It was all shimmering blue and distorted but definitely three-dimensional. What the hell?

'Doesn't it feel good?' the happy voice purred in front of her and she looked up at the guy that came closer, without her noticing a thing. Damn it! What was that supposed to mean?

'What did you do?' she asked suppressing the surprise that there was a voice resounding. 'Who are you?'

The guy grinned wider and not really nicely.

'Nightmare,' he disappeared. In the same moment there was a strong disturbance and it sent a shock wave through her strangely sensitive existence and made her feel quite a real pain.

Sharon woke up screaming and trembling, back in her real body.

'Hey, what happened?' she heard Reim next to her as he took off her headgear and helped to sit up. 'Sharon, are you with me?'

She shook her head to clear it a bit and rubbed her face. She frowned when she felt it wet and saw red smears of her fingers.

She felt something soft being pressed under her nose and she moved to hold it herself. She stayed like that for a moment, silent, trying to get her thoughts back together.

'There's a serious disturbance,' she said, strange itch building in her mind. Somehow, she felt it had something to do with Them.

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 **First of two main characters introduced in present =) She's gonna have it hard =)**

 **Thanks for favs, follows and comments! =)**


	3. 001 00010 Evening

**001.00010 Evening**

'Two mojitos and a beer,' he said handing out the drinks to the waiting customer. He pushed the pay box towards him and watched carefully how he paid. With a mumbled "thank you" he moved over to prepare another order. And then another one and some more. And in the meantime he scanned the crowd carefully but covertly, noting all the regular visitors and some new faces. At times like that his perfect memory came in handy.

He was making a show of mixing a "red refreshing drink, but strong" when he spotted the blond enter Batcave. As usual, she came in her tight leather outfit, perfect for the bike she drove. As usual she took a long look at the crowd gathered there, seemingly looking for something or someone and, as usual, heading for the bar indifferently.

'Gin tonic for the lady,' he said with a wide and pleasant smile, pushing the drink towards the girl. She smiled lightly as she sat down by the counter.

'Am I that easy to read?' she asked with a faked sigh and he smirked at her, already pouring beer for another customer. Maybe he should ask her name one of these days.

'As a bartender it's my job to find my clients' favorites and serve them right to make them feel special at all times,' he said in the best serious tone he could master.

'Keep up with the empty flattery,' she said with a giggle and raised her glass to him.

'Oh come on, I'm trying here to make your mood better,' he chirped away and continued when he saw a little frown. Oh, oh, touchy subject. 'You looked a bit down there, when you entered. The prince did not show up?' he asked lightly to dispel the sudden seriousness and she sighted heavily.

'Nah, just a tough day at work,' she muttered absentmindedly.

'Tell me about it,' he whined exaggeratedly busying himself with yet another drink but still noticing her small smile.

'Then I shall not bother you any more,' she said lightly again. 'For a while at least,' she added in a sweet voice, drained her glass and slipped into the dancing crowd. He watched her go for a moment and wondered what suddenly felt so odd.

Of course, he noticed it a while ago, the faint bluish gleam in her eyes. It was the unsettling sparkle he associated with people too much into Connex and it was the thing he was hunting for. Especially, since she didn't seem to be the connaddict type, gamer or unreality diver. She had to work with it maybe, just maybe she could be his trace to follow.

Then the realization struck him - the gleam was slightly more vivid that night. Only barely, but his extremely observant eye caught the change. And if she worked with Connex it might mean that the tough day meant something happening. Should he try and get closer to the girl?

'Oi, stupid rabbit,' snapped him back into reality and he turned sharply to the sullen waiter and his occasional bar helper that he treated as his best friend. He grinned widely as the pretty guy pushed a long list into his hands. 'Don't space out, the VIP lounge is waiting,' he spat and went his way to collect empty glasses around the venue. With a resigned sigh and a mischievous smirk he went down to his own work as well until, a few busy hours later into the night, the number of orders dropped down enough to allow a little breather and time to think.

'Lavi,' the call pierced his thoughts and he looked up at the pretty face frowning at him. 'You're spacing out more than usual.' He smirked slightly.

'Say Yuu,' he started ignoring the statement. 'Do you dream sometimes?' The other frowned deeper and when no answer came, Lavi sighted deeply and mixed himself a drink.

'Forget it,' he muttered and drained his glass in one go and moved to serve the client, ignoring the studious gaze of the other as he arranged clean glasses.

'You saw her again,' came a quiet whisper from behind and he sighted.

'Let's not talk about it here,' he cut the conversation.

'Hey, redhead!' his intriguing blond customer called to him, drunkish, and he turned to her with the brightest smile and gin and tonic in his hand.

'At your service, my lady,' he said with a clumsy bow that was rewarded with a giggle. And with that she was gone back into the crowd. A snort sounded behind him and he looked back it Yuu who was shaking his head resigned.

'What?' he asked with an exaggerated hurt in his voice. He smirked at the doubtful frown he received and served one other customer.

'You flirt with them all the time but never go any further.' Lavi turned to his sulking friend with a wide grin.

'Is it actual concern that I hear?' he asked. 'I never realized Yuu was capable of such human reactions, seeing how you keep away from pretty much everybody.'

'Bite me, stupid rabbit,' he said, always reacting hotly at the pun with his name. Lavi was about to tease him some more but then there was some commotion that disturbed them. They both turned towards the noise and a slurred call for the "fucking redhead fag".

It all happened in a heartbeat. He saw a man charging through the crowd straight, if only a bit wobbly, in his direction. When in clear view and close distance, he raised a hand and in it they saw a broken bottle. Oh, was the only thing he managed to think when the glass arched towards him. Fast.

He felt a strong push at his back and the next thing he knew, he was crouched on the floor with a bit of weight pinning him down. He covered his head when he heard glass crushing and falling around but right after is was finished he glanced sideways at the attacker. He blinked surprised when he saw the man stiffen and then fall from the view behind the counter.

Lavi twisted to look up above him and there he saw Kanda, who was keeping him down, aiming from the stun gun at where the attacker was a moment ago.

'Yuu-' he started in, what he realized, a slightly quivering voice. Dark eyes looked at him with a frown and their owner moved up and away.

'Go get some fresh air,' he said in a way that allowed no arguing. 'I'll take care of things here,' he added and started to clean up the bar. Lavi got up on his, surprisingly, shaking legs and made it for the glazed wall overlooking the amphitheatre outside. He went there and slumped down against the wall feeling strangely numb for the moment. Damn it, he'd be dead if not for Yuu, he thought worriedly. He closed his eye to help himself calm down.

In the dark behind his eyes he noticed a shadow move. He frowned and focused on it. Rather fast it morphed into a dancing figure coming closer to him. And then, in a space of a heartbeat, there was a pale face right in front on him, peering at him with sparkling, violet eyes, smiling a wide mischievous grin. The girl from his dreams.

'Gotcha,' she said -

'Hey there,' sounded next to him and he snapped his eye open fast, backing away rapidly and staring to his side. 'Um, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that,' the girl said apologetically, smiling lightly. The blond customer with bluish sparkle in her eyes. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and shook his head.

'It's ok,' he said with a sigh and got up, leaning on the wall for a bit of support. He turned to her and smiled his brightest smile. 'What brings you here?'

'I was really worried when I saw the guy rushing at you,' she said with a tiny bit of guilt in her voice. 'I was talking to him when he suddenly said there was something wrong with his drink and he went at you. He felt... strange,' she added with a tiny frown. Strange, huh? He thought and the image of his nightmare girl floated in his mind. Why?

He pushed off the wall and neared the girl, holding out his hand. He smiled widely at her surprised look and she took his hand. She smiled brightly when he introduced himself and she replied with the same.

'Delighted to meet you, Sharon,' he said with a deep, clumsy bow that made her giggle. 'Anyway, I should get back to my work.' And with that he went back inside and straight towards the bar, waving away Yuu's questioning gaze. He busied himself with the mechanic actions of a bartender while his head whirled with troubling thoughts.

Why would he see the nightmare girl back then, all of a sudden and in full wakefulness? Up until now she was only showing up in his dreams that were becoming longer and more vivid with time. Up until now he treated them like dreams, even though they seemed more real than others did. Alas, now he experienced the confirmation of his theory about their true nature. Now he wanted evidence and for that he might need Sharon and whatever she was doing to gain the bluish sparkle.

Over the static of the crowd he heard a slightly disturbing giggle and his head shot right up as it reminded him too much of the girl from his not-dreams. He saw the wave of long, dark hair disappear in the exit to the amphitheatre.

'No shit,' he muttered stunned but then his attentions diverted fast to the beer overflowing from the glass. Briskly he dealt with the mess and took following orders.

* * *

 **Thanks for reviews, favs and follows!**


	4. 001 00011 Day

**001.00011 Day**

'Sharon, this is madness,' was the first thing she heard when her consciousness came back to her body. 'If you go on like that any further you'll seriously hurt yourself, or worse, get killed. I really think you should stop pushing yourself or I will have to inform the tops-' She opened her eyes and glared him into silence.

'Not a word,' she threatened and tried to get up, clinging strongly to the arm supporting her. She managed, very unsteadily, and let him lead her out of the connection room and into the office. She fell heavily onto the chair and gladly accepted a glass of cold water. Just a moment of rest, she thought closing her eyes and making herself comfortable.

'What are you doing there anyway?' She heard a quiet question. Damn, he would ask that sooner or later, especially, after seeing her wear herself out for the last week. But she could never tell him the truth. It somehow felt really dangerous and the shadowy guy there was suspicious.

'I'm enhancing my skills. Better perception to error and such,' she sighted and waved a dismissive hand. 'It's just a bit hard.' There was a moment of silence that followed the statement and Sharon felt a gaze fixed on her. She opened her eyes and looked straight into a careful frown.

'You know, we've worked together for quite some time now and you've never tried perfecting your skills so hard. I admit it feels a little strange,' he said seriously and she held his gaze.

'Come with me to the Wall,' she said before she bit her tongue. She watched how he studied her thoughtfully with a slight frown. How his eyes tried to pierce through her words and intentions. She didn't really know why the hell she offered him that. He was never good with or fond of the Wall, he was never skilled enough with it to do what she was trying now. And what if, what if, by any chance, the shadow guy didn't like that she brought somebody with her? She never saw him since that first encounter but somehow she was sure he was watching her. Hidden so well that it was disturbing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Reim turned the chair sharply away from her.

'I'm not interested,' he said quietly and resumed his work. 'Just don't get killed,' he added and she watched him surprised for a moment. Maybe he understood more that she was giving him credit for.

She got up and went again to the connection room. Without a word she dived yet again and she drifted swiftly to the other side of the Wall to try and rip free from the barrier and create a physical form in the digital environment, like the shadowy guy did to her.

For the last week she was studying ceaselessly the nature of the Wall and whole Connex, determining the principles of their ways of working. And the more she knew, the less possible it seemed to be able to achieve what she was trying at. Even though she had a clear evidence one could do it.

Maybe it was just the stupid projection of my mind? She thought suddenly and stopped in her actions. Maybe it was just something in my head that cracked and I'm now slowly and irreversibly falling for the trap only to never get out of Connex one of these days?

'Sharon, there's a strange anomaly a kilometer West from you,' Raim interrupted her troubling thoughts.

'I'm on it,' she replied right away and rushed forward.

'It looks like it's trying to interfere with the barrier's field. Watch out or it's- Don't go there, Sharon!' he screamed too late. She already felt it in her Wall induced senses. She already felt it seeping through her connections and then she jumped.

There was a strong sensation of being torn away from a part of herself. It hurt, figuratively, and left her mind throbbing. She lost balance and fell to the ground without a sound but with a delicate tension wave that spread from her in every direction. She shook her head to clear it out and then she stopped frozen.

She gazed down and saw she was kneeling on the ground somewhere in the City. She didn't feel nor smell anything but the body was definitely there, bluish shimmer visible only when she moved. She looked up and saw the usual City with a touch of electric blue but very much real. Her heart was racing even though she didn't feel she had one. She was panting despite no air in digital surroundings. Where am I?

And then Noise came. Thousands of different voices filled her head at the same time and she felt like screaming without her voice. Whines, pleas, cries. Everything and nothing. High-pitched and vibrating low. An enormous, indistinguishable mass. She covered her ears and curled into a ball to block the sounds but it was pointless. It was all in her head.

She felt a wave of tension interfere with her own idea of being and the Noise was cut off. She straightened and looked around surprised. She'd jump away if she wasn't so shocked with seeing a grinning face just in front of hers. The shadow guy was crouched there, smiling at her in his very deranged way. He looked disturbingly pleased.

'Welcome to Inner Connex,' he said in a sing-song voice and spread his arms wide. 'Take a good look around and see how the World looks like when you dive just a bit too deep.'

Too shocked to think she gazed around numbly. Everywhere around she saw shapeless distortions of space, shimmering in dimmed light, floating around at different speed. Only after a moment she noticed some of them more vivid, solid, distinguishable. Some even had clearly visible limbs and–

A black shadow passed them and made Sharon back away abruptly. The figure had its body perfectly visible and sharp but for the delicate outline of blackened distortion around itself. It looked painful.

'That is an utterly lost addict,' her companion said and moved his arm up, his open palm directed at the figure. He grinned unpleasantly and the figure stopped still. It trembled and the arms moved up to wrap its head. It looked like it was screaming with all its might and then it withered, crumbled and disappeared into thin air. Sharon blinked shocked staring at the place where the figure has just been.

'Good clean up,' the guy said and it instantly infuriated her. She turned to the guy and stared angrily at his surprised and merry face and wanted to punch him hard for mocking her.

'The hell did you do to that girl?!' she screamed outraged.

'I banished her from Inner to clean this place up from yet another disturbance,' he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'What if you killed her back in the real world?' she demanded through gritted teeth.

'What about it?' he replied with a question and a shrug. 'Seeing her state, she had no life anyway.'

'You bastard,' she hissed and, against all reason, wanted to hit him. However, the moment she lifted her hand he grabbed her and pulled her down, pinning her face down to the ground.

'Surprised, aren't you?' he sang, his voice ringing straight in her mind. 'How can you fight someone when you're a mere digital imprint of a consciousness in the digital spacescape. Well, let me tell you, the moment you free yourself from the limitations this world becomes as real and tangible as the other one. Hell, it's even more real as it controls the other, influences it and keeps it in check. You can never escape from it, no matter what you do and, when you're useless to it, it will crush you without remorse-'

'Shut it!' she cried not able to stand his piercing voice any longer. In that moment the Noise fell on her like a thunder and this time she screamed helplessly. It was impossible, just impossible to stand this! It was terrible, the thousands of voices whirling in her mind, wrapping all her thought and slashing her consciousness. She's had enough, enough of that!

Absolute silence washed over her and it made her momentarily numb and empty.

Only after a moment she realized there was the strange interference again wrapping her awareness, just like the previous time the Noise fell onto her. She kneeled up from her pathetic position and looked at the guy crutched in front of her. He was wearing an expression that was calm and curious. Somehow it was more disturbing then the sick amusement.

'You can learn to block it away in reflex, like you breath in the physical world,' he sang and tilted her head thoughtfully. His lips curved into a small smile, vile and sweet at the same time.

'What do you want from me?' Sharon hissed not letting him say whatever was on his mind at the moment.

'We want you,' he said.

'We? There're more of you? You're not messing with me just for the sake of it?' she demanded suddenly alarmed by the news. It couldn't be Them, right?

The guy grinned now purely evilly and mischievously.

'I might have let it slip a bit too much,' he sang and giggled under her piercing glare. 'What, you thought I was just some random madman strolling around Inner and looking for pretty, harmless girls?' He laughed out loud. 'Ok, that was actually true. However, the girls I hunt for are not random. I was to get you and pull you out.' He held out his hand towards her and, after looking at it skeptically, she took it. 'I'm Leo,' he introduced himself with a disturbingly charming smile. Then, he pulled her up and swung an arm around her shoulders. He started walking and telling her how marvelous Inner was but it took only a few steps before Sharon heard Reim calling her.

'The distortion is gone,' he said. 'Whatever you did you've made it. Now get back because you... I mean... your body looks terrible.' He did not want to elaborate what he meant and there was only one thing she could do.

'Well then,' Leo said knowingly. 'Till next time, Sharon.' He grinned widely, turned around on spot and left in the direction of Wall. He already disappeared when she realized she actually did not get any information out of him. Damn it, she cursed and then stopped in her tracks. Actually, how could she log off right now? Normally she would just flow back along the Wall to the Fort, but now what, should she run there? That's madness! It'd take so much time!

She walked up to the shimmering glitch of the barrier and reached to it with her hand. The moment her finger grazed the digital surface she felt an enormous pull at her whole body. She was sucked in a space of a heartbeat and immediately her consciousness came back into her body.

She woke up extremely sore all over her body. There was a huge weight on her chest and it made her cough and almost choke as she tried to take a breath. It was painful and terribly difficult to breathe. Tears were streaming down her cheeks from the effort and she felt she was trembling from heat and cold, coming one after another.

She managed to calm down only after a longer while. She lied down concentrating on the air coming in and out of her lungs. She tried to ignore the ache in her every muscle.

She opened her eyes when she felt something pressed at her face and saw Reim hovering over her. She took the wet cloth he gave her and wiped the blood from her face, expecting it as the sign that she overdid it again. She was worried at how much there was and briefly she wondered if it would always be like that with her solid digital spectre. Hell, it can't be! How could the guy, Leo, be doing it if he was as bad as she was right now? His body would be vulnerable like that and he'd have to have it secured in a way. Or have someone to take care of him, she thought and looked up at Reim again. She saw him frowning at her, his lips pressed in a thin and determined line. Damn.

'You can't push yourself so hard,' he said in a calm but resolute voice.

'Help me up,' she said and glared away the protest that was starting. He grabbed her strongly and pulled her up. She leaned heavily on him and let him guide her out of the room and to her chair. He helped her sit down and went back to his own place. He said nothing more and resumed his work in absolute silence.

I might consider finding a way to do that from home, she mused gazing at Reim's back. It might be dangerous but she wouldn't risk drawing too much attention to herself that way. Especially, if any of the higher ups would pop in for a casual inspection. Whatever it was that she was pulled in, she was sure, was not really going in the line of the company she worked for. One thing was being curious about how things worked with Connex, the other was to be consciously meddling with it and pulling others in. And even though the guy said nothing much, there sure was contempt in his words and the only thing she could hope for was that she'd have no problems at work. At least, until she found out what the guy and his colleagues were up to, she mused curiously.

She sighted deeply and closed her eyes, trying to pull herself back together.

If she was spotted, in the worst scenario possible, she could always say she is investigating the unusual occurrence by the Wall, she decided.

Which side of the conflict were They on?

In her slightly hazy state, being deep in messy thoughts, she did not notice one of the cameras turn straight at her.

-:-:-:-:-:-

The room had no windows. There was no light apart from the bluish computer glow coming from no less than seven lightscreens. Images and words and signs were flowing through them creating the ever changing scenery of deep, moving shadows.

The shifting glow illuminated a perfectly still figure seated on a huge chair, its legs pulled up, arms wrapped around them, forehead propped against knees. Then, the figure trembled and took a deep, wheezing breath. With a sigh it let the air out and uncurled to stretch. It lifted the head up and, as the longish hair swayed from the movement, the glow was reflected form various metal gears around the head. The guy looked up at the central screen with a sterile white room on it, where a girl was waking up violently from her dive, coughing, trembling, panting. He grinned widely and insanely and giggled.

'Gotcha,' he sang and he moved to bring back life into his slightly stiff and numb body. That was one hell of a good dive, he thought merrily and went about preparing another big step through Connex.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks so much for reviews, favs and follows!**


	5. 001 00100 Night

**001.00100 Night**

Lavi was struggling against the restraints biting into his wrists at the top of the world, high above the glittering City. He tried to ignore the girl dancing on the edge in front of him, like she always did, humming creepy melodies over the wind. He growled frustrated when he could do nothing more then just tighten the knots. Why the fuck was it all so real?! This shouldn't be, god damn it, even if it wasn't just a dream! He knew it, he sensed it was Connex but still it shouldn't be so fucking solid!

His mind and body came to an abrupt halt when he felt hands cupping his face delicately and pushing his head up. He looked straight into the violet, playful eyes.

'You know, you could free yourself easily if you only wanted to,' the girl said sweetly and smiled. 'They gave you everything you could ever need to be as free as the wind and I can't imagine why you never used it.'

'How do you know?' he asked stunned, staring at her wide-eyed. She couldn't be a part of Them, no? Fuck, of course not. She was not like Them. Maybe she was also Their product?

'I can feel it, it always pulled me to you and the moment I found you here I was so fascinated I could never walk indifferently past you,' she whispered seriously but with a wide grin. Her fingers skimmed his skin and entangled in his hair. She pulled closer and whispered into his ear. 'Ever since I saw you one night lifeless, senseless in the middle of the midnight blue electric storm I breathed soul into you inside Inner. I pushed your digital existence into motion. Ever since then you're mine here.' She pushed further and grinned madly. 'That is, until you decide to free yourself,' she sang and got up and went back to the edge.

'Come on, dance with me into the night!' she screamed and stopped still, facing him. And she took a step back.

Lavi watched her fall backwards over the edge and disappear in an instant. With a wild scream he pulled at the restraints with all his might.

At full speed he jumped off his bed and realized the situation only when his foot did not meet the mattress underneath but fell lower to the floor. He crashed face first into the wall, his hands softening the clash only in the minimum. His nose broke with a dull crack. He lost balance and fell down to the ground, holding his aching nose and trying to block the blood with his shirt. He was cursing as badly as he could as he gathered himself up and headed for the first aid station in his bathroom. Skillfully, he followed the video instructions to tend to his injury, swearing at the world in general and the girl in particular as he did so.

He watched his grumpy expression in the mirror and frowned at the sight. Fucking cripple, he spat at himself and had to use all his will to not smash the glass into pieces.

Huffing with annoyance, he took a few painkillers and went back to his room. He fell backwards onto the bed, ignoring the slight dizziness. He stared at the ceiling as, in his mind, he went through the dream again and only then he realized that his right eye socket was throbbing again. He let a string of curses flow in the silence of his room. Free myself, huh? He thought and rolled to his side. What if I don't want to? If I could ever choose I'd have nothing to do with Connex. And now she's pulling me in to the deepest pits of Inner, hell knows if she's even sane enough to leave me be one day. The only freedom I want is one of the Outer, real world and not the digital fakeness, however solid Inner seems to be. Oh for fuck's sake!

He closed his eyes trying to dull his troubling thoughts and waited for the pills to take over.

-:-:-:-:-:-

'The hell did you do?' with those words Kanda greeted him when they met by Batcave Industries that afternoon. He treated him with a glare at first but then he sighted resigned and scratched his bandaged nose. He gazed around swiftly and, sticking hands in the pockets of his overall, he looked to the ground and started kicking pebbles around.

'Had a bad dream,' he mumbled and looked up sharply at Yuu, silencing his next biting comment. 'Say, you still stubbornly refuse to use Connex?' he asked pinning him with his curious gaze. Kanda frowned and shrugged dismissively.

'I don't find much use for it,' he replied flatly.

'But you started using some hi tech equipment lately.'

'Just a lightscreen for some news,' he frowned deeper. 'What's with you so suddenly?' Lavi brightened up in an instant and grinned as wide as he could, earning an annoyed huff.

'I just wanted to keep my knowledge of Yuu up-to-date,' he chirped away and headed for the company car. 'Come on, let's be done with the supplies.'

'Are you sure you're fit to drive?' Kanda asked doubtfully as he took the passenger's seat and strapped himself fast. The redhead grinned at him widely as he started the engine and swept into high speed in no time.

'I'm perfectly capable-'

'Watch it, idiot rabbit!' Yuu screamed and Lavi made a sharp maneuver to not crash into a motor riding the opposite way.

'Capable my ass,' Kanda muttered annoyed and grabbed whatever he could to get better hold of his position. Lavi bit his tongue to not reply to it as he wanted to, knowing the angry Japanese was absolutely unbearable and he needed him to do the work. Most of it actually, as he was not feeling like working at all, mind you, he was injured. He smirked at his own thoughts that were efficiently clouding his other troubling ones.

As he planned, he wriggled out of most of heavier work, which was remarked with a few biting comments as they set back to Batcave.

'Ever thought about moving to the City?' Lavi asked casually, killing the ringing silence, when they were driving through the East Gate. Sideways, he saw Kanda shrug and gaze distrustfully at the structures still visible in the mirrors.

'It makes me feel oppressed,' he admitted and the redhead just had to grin: this was so accurate. With the whole Connex and dependability on it within the Walls one sure could feel like that, ever observed, followed, remembered. Whereas on the outskirts, where former suburb districts were mostly abandoned, slowly dilapidating and swallowed by nature, the net did not stretch so ominously, mostly because of the lack of newest equipment. That's where they both lived, away from the latest tech gadgets and social loneliness. They both chose the physical seclusion of off-life, as connadicts called it. But that was it: that was his freedom. He'd never give it up.

In thoughtful silence they reached Batcave, unloaded the supplies and got down to their normal work when the evening came. Lavi waved away Kanda's questioning gaze at his unusually quiet mood but he was way too deep in his worries and doubts. He barely registered clients coming in and ordering their drinks and snacks, even thought he smiled his customary smile and chatted away the time. His mind was far away, between Outer and Inner, where it would never be if not for his nightmares. If not for the girl –

He stopped frozen with an empty bottle in his hand that he just took from the counter. He stood there, his eye wide, his mind suddenly blank. He blinked but she did not disappear. She was sitting there behind the counter, smiling widely at him, head propped at her hands playfully. In the dimmed light her eyes, the dark violet before, were glittering brightly with electric blue sparks so much that the pupils were barely visible. The view very much disturbing, pinned him to the spot.

The eye contact was broken when Kanda passed in front of him and it woke him up. He grabbed the other by the arm strongly and completely ignored the "what the hell, stupid rabbit".

'Say, Yuu, do you see the girl there?' he started nodding her direction. 'The one with a silly grin and ear-shaped hair sticking out at the sides of her head-'

'The fuck's wrong with you today, stupid rabbit,' the Japanese spat annoyed. 'Why wouldn't I see her anyway?' Lavi grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer earning an angry scowl.

'If I start acting strange or look different please smack me hard in the head, ok?'

'Should I do it right now?' Yuu asked. 'Or should I give you ten seconds to try and dodge?'

'Thank you,' the redhead said seriously, all but ignoring the other's sarcasm. He let go of him and turned back to the girl. He smiled his brightest smile and asked what she would like to order.

'Lavi's special,' she said merrily and he felt a shiver when he heard her voice: it was the same as in Inner. Only after a moment it came to him that she knew his name. He stared at her for a moment stunned before he gathered himself up and got busy with an extra strong version of his drink. He wanted her drunk and gone.

'So what's the deal?' he asked trying to dull his racing imagination.

'Deal with what?' she asked, smiling innocently but with a dirty spark in her eyes.

'With you and me. Why are you stalking me? How did you find me here?' She giggled.

'Whether you like it or not, you leave such a bright and shining trace of your presence that I only needed to follow it through Inner and find a way here,' she laughed. 'You know, the biggest problem was to somehow match the topography of here and there to not bump into walls and such,' she added mischievously and with a shiver down his spine he tried to ignore the suggestion at her spying on him constantly. He also ignored the slight itch on his nose and managed not to scratch it.

Without a word he pushed the glass to her and noticed her grabbing it fast, when his hand was still touching it–

The world around him shimmered delicately in the electric blue of her eyes. He looked her in the eyes and saw them deep violet again. People around them were mostly gone and the club changed into and abandoned, rundown brewery it once was. He turned to the girl, frowning.

'How did you do that?' he asked angrily, not sure if he should stay or run for it.

'I merely used both our potentials and directed them at a single purpose,' she explained merrily and giggled. 'The possibilities are extraordinary!'

Lavi wanted to push her more on the matter but then another voice reached his awareness, one that did not belong to the constant static of Inner. A voice scolding him to "get back to work, stupid rabbit". He clung to that voice and those words, grabbed them and pulled at them with all his might.

He was standing back at the bar in the dimly lit Batcave, panting. His head was throbbing and the right eye socket itched. He looked up into the electric blue, glittering eyes, wide with surprise, staring at him with a visible question "how come?" The smile disappeared from the girl's face and it was his time to smirk mischievously.

'What was your name again?' he asked sweetly.

'Alice,' she said right away and then shook her head to gather herself. Whether she wanted to add something more or not, Lavi did not have a chance to hear. A tray landed on his head heavily and with a loud bang and he saw stars dancing and heard a hissed "you asked for it, stupid rabbit".

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	6. 001 00101 Work

**001 00101 Work**

There was a slight but constant buzz in the spare room of Sharon's flat when she started the equipment. The set up was quite complicated for a home use so she had to gather up parts from various shops to not draw suspicions too fast. Then again, what she was doing was not suspicious at all. Not. At. All. Or so she was trying to convince herself when she was collecting the stuff. All the time she was repeating to herself that what she was doing was right. She was not harming anyone, no sir, she was just so goddamn curious. Just that. Nothing more. Nothing less. And for sure she was not meddling with the affairs of the company she worked for. Company that held in their hands all the digital security and communication. Because she was not doing anything against them.

But they did come to check up on Fort I twice since she tore free from the Wall. Did they somehow notice it? They could have never! Nevertheless, she dared not to do what she did ever again at work, not even when the black shadow appeared around her and mocked her with a wide grin. Instead, she started to build up the biggest Connex unit that a room could fit. And she planned to plug herself in.

Once again she went around the flat to see if she closed everything well. She checked if the signal mask up was working alright and the interference filter was scattering the connection to look like it was coming from different sources instead of one. She was doing the right thing, she repeated in her head, and took a deep breath.

She sat down it the middle of her gear and on the lightscreen she tapped the code into one of the security cameras downtown. The image popped up and she saw the rather empty street glitched with electric blue lights of tension. All set, she said out loud.

She took a thin cuff and wrapped it around her wrist - it was a security wake up in case someone tried to get into her flat. She hoped she would not need it. Ever. She cleared her mind and put on the complicated headgear she managed to snatch from Fort I right before it was thrown into trash and utilized. She was quite lucky then.

She plugged everything in, turned all the switches ready for the dive and jumped into the heart of Connex.

Immaterial, immeasurable, unreal three hours later Sharon was thrashing around the digitalscape frustrated and angry. She was fuming because no matter how hard she tried she could not find any possible way into Inner and there was not the smallest sign saying "welcome". Hell, sure there wouldn't be! What did she expect?!

She went through every news feed, every live play game, every virtual reality guided tour and augmented City walk. Every. Single. One. And she found nothing! Not a single trace or clue on where to push next! Big, fat nothing. Every single route she took brought her right back to the starting point without the smallest cracks in the visions to push your nails there and tear it open. Nothing!

She growled exasperated and all but ignored the couple that looked around under the camera she took over. She backed away a little from Connex, so that she was able to see her room while still staying deeply connected. She stretched the lightscreen at 360 degrees to see the full view from the camera. She deepened the level of her submergence, low enough to see the bluish glitch, high enough to still be able to observe control panels behind the screen.

She decided to change her approach. If she was not going to get into Inner so easily on her own she would just try to monitor the Connex activity around the City.

As soon as she gave the order to her equipment, she saw the overwhelming, overpowering net that weaved into the tight cover swallowing the whole City in an instant. It was constantly flowing, changing, wrapping: a living creature. The ceaseless movement made her instantly dizzy so she changed her command fast. Most of the lines, the "casual use" disappeared leaving the more profound and intensive traces of connections. Sharon moved along the City, from one camera to another, watching the cold flame and buzz of the digital, looking for loopholes and incoherence in the chaotic patterns. She was analyzing the rhythm of their vibrations, intensity of their interchanges. She set up the average parameters of their alterations and around it she built the range of possible, normal deviations. With that defined she cleared her views again and not many lines remained, finally revealing the Wall as the brightest element, enclosing the City with its solid barrier, along with concrete walls.

Sharon jumped to the camera placed on the top of the highest building in the centre to look at the whole City at once. She had to admit that from such perspective, the Connex lines looked really beautiful. She saw now that all the forts along the Wall were a bit brighter, pulsating a bit faster. She saw them connect to various points around the whole City with steady lines that were far more intensive than the previously set average. She noticed the huge halo around the City Hall sending ripples all around the Market Square. For some unknown reason it made her shiver with anxiety.

Her attention was suddenly diverted when she spotted another bright, deeply vibrating point. She turned the direction of a former shopping center, a building that had the most underground levels of a parking lot in the City. There, a small but extremely bright light was pulsating and sending almost unnoticeable ripples throughout the whole City and even further. She frowned wondering what it could be and she decided to dive deeper there to check it.

Just then, when she was aiming for her jump, she saw a single, small light shot at great speed from one side of the City to the other. And it continued until the Batcave Industries, stopping there. Sharon watched for a moment stunned, feeling somewhere deep inside of her that it was an anomaly way out of the ordinary. And the moment she thought that, she saw the light at Batcave flicker once, brightly.

The girl logged off immediately from her master machine and checked the time: it was just perfect to go to the club. She changed quickly into some fitting clothes and went about the flat switching off all the equipment. On her quick way out she grabbed a powerful but rather small headgear and put it on as she sped down the stairs. She mounted her motorbike and rushed through the City and outside the Wall. Would she be able to find the fleeting light?

But then another thought appeared in her head: what if They were trying to lure her out?

What if Leo, whatever his group was, was trying to pull her deeper, even in real life?

Then again, finding someone's digital imprint and connecting it to a physical body was impossible. Even if They noticed her doings in Connex They would never possibly know who she was. Neither would Leo.

Did she, by any chance, let it slip where she was working? She tried hard to go through all the parties she had, but damn it, the alcohol was always too much as the nights progressed. She was sure, however, that she'd never rant about her work or anything. Not even to the certain redhead bartender who was always so eagerly serving her drinks.

Was he doing that on purpose?

Could he possibly know what she was digging into?

But she was only doing it for a short time and the guy was acting the same ever since she saw him first a few years before. Back then she did nothing suspicious. Was it a trap set ever since she started her work? Was he in league with Leo?

The weirdo guy from Wall once said that it was all visible in the eyes and then pinned her with his sparkling, violet ones. But the redhead looked perfectly normal! Despite the eyepatch, she remembered and wondered, not for the first time, what it was hiding. Always, when she stared at him for a fraction too long or too curiously he diverted her attention quite efficiently. He was really good at that. Maybe she could try asking outright? But then, if he was with Them she'd be in real danger, showing her interest. Shit.

However, all her grand plan went to hell when, arriving to Batcave Industries, she learned that the redhead was not there. She cursed her bad luck but decided to stay nevertheless. She ordered her drink and scanned the room for any signs of Them. The night looked like it'd be long.

Few drinks and lots of empty talk later she finally caught an interesting sight. There was a small mixed group in the lounge that had a strange aura around them. The never moved from the spot just sat there, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. They looked suspiciously calm and twitchy at the same time, strangely present and absent. She saw them all wearing Connex plugins on their heads, poorly hidden in their hair or under their clothes. Their minds were probably not there anyway.

And then one of them moved.

One of the guys blinked and frowned and then looked up straight at her.

She stood there frozen to the spot, returning the careful gaze, although where he was frowning, she was starting to panic. How was that possible.

The man smirked slightly and then three of his companions twitched and got up from their seats. With no delay they moved through the crowd straight at her.

She acted out of reflex, completely without thinking. She turned on the spot and made it fast for the back exit she frequently used. She all but run through the parking lot and jumped onto her motorbike. She set off to the sound of fired guns and sped down the empty street not looking back and it was only just before the Outer Wall East Gate that she realized they followed. She cursed against the blowing wind and took the long and twisted route around the City. The maze of turns made them all slow down but it also prevented them from shooting after her and she disappeared behind the corners before they could aim. But damn they kept to her tail!

A thousand thoughts swirled inside of her head as she rode. A thousand questions without a single answer. What actually did They want from her? Did They know somehow that she was digging around? What did They want from her?

She almost lost control over the bike when she suddenly realized one thing. The Wall weirdo knew she was digging around. Even if she never told him she was actually sniffing around, he was constantly taunting her with strange questions and disturbing facts. He sure goddamn knew she'd catch the bite. Asshole.

She turned yet another corner and passed the Inner Wall, furious with her naïveté. The freaking idiot played her like a puppet and she did what he wanted.

Was the redhead also in this?

She almost fell out from the sharp turn when the streets were becoming more and more narrow. Damn she went to deep into the Centre. If she continued on she'd step into the Inner Zone in no time and people say strange things about the area. She never went there, not wanting to prove the stories true or wrong on her own skin. And now, now she was heading straight into it, she realized with a curse. And with the chase on her tail she had no real choice.

She turned one last time and sped down the street straight into the Old Square. She stopped right before the buildings there and turned around to face her opponents. She took out the stun gun she carried with herself but never used it outside the training room. She aimed at them and watched them stop uncertain right before the area's agreed border.

They looked sideways at each other and with no more delay neared her.

She took in a deep breath and aimed.

A high, metallic screech resounded around them and there was long, low rumble that bounced from the walls. For a few seconds they all stood surprised, in a complete silence. And when They turned around to flee, They all stopped abruptly, their bodies bent backwards and they screamed terrifyingly. Their voiced mingled with the sound of electric discharge and they all fell to the ground motionless.

The hell was that, she thought as she watched the scene stunned. She haven't budged in inch, too afraid the same thing would happen to her. However, when the pitiful cries stopped, silence reigned again, with even the wind absent.

'So you came here finally,' a voice said way too close behind her and she couldn't suppress a shiver. She didn't recognize it's cold and steel sharp timbre and she knew it did not bring anything good.

She wanted to say something to that but what left her mouth was a terrible cry as electricity passed through her body. The pain was unbelievable and she knew she would not be able to withstand it long. She felt every bit of her body burning and freezing in the same moment, she felt all her cells vibrate ceaselessly. And it hurt, it hurt so goddamn much. Blinding light filled her eyes and the only sound left was her own scream.

It all stopped as suddenly as it started, but when it did, the darkness took her.

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 **AN:** Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.


	7. 001 00110 Leisure

**001 00110 Leisure**

'Tell me again, why are you dragging me along for your date?' Kanda asked irritated as they were making their way through the grounds of Batcave Industries and towards the mediatheque, a small building furthest from the street.

'I told you already it's not a date,' Lavi said with his trademark, easy going smile, while inside he was a nervous wreck. He did agree to the meeting because he basically had no choice: either he'd do it voluntarily or they'd drag him by force, even if no words like that were said. But he knew it. And he wanted someone to keep an eye on him. Someone to pull him out if things went wrong. Just in case.

'Yeah right,' the grumpy words snapped him out of his grim thoughts and he grinned at his friend. He ignored the biting "date in your work place, brilliant" comment with a snicker as he unlocked the doors with a code and a fingerprint. He chose the place for a few reasons. First of all, they would be there completely alone and hell knows what the girl would try doing! Not that he planned to let her anyway. He also wanted to meet in the mediatheque because, even when closed, it was emitting the constant buzz of information flowing in and out, jamming and mixing all particular connections. It was just easier to stay unnoticed in the crowd.

They entered and went up to the office on the top floor. With a heavy sigh Lavi fell down onto the huge chair behind the desk. He switched the floor to ceiling windows into a one way view mode and watched the scenery outside. One of the glazing was overlooking the calm lake and a forest around it. He knew that beyond the trees there was a half-abandoned housing area, in ruin after most of the people moved within the walls of the City years before. It was now being swallowed by nature, despite the hopeless struggle of the poor who lived there, and eventually would turn into relic of past high speed development. And he thought the end fit it perfectly.

On the other side of the mediatheque building, there was the Batcave Industries main building with the club and offices and apartments. It was vibrating with life and lights as people started flooding in for the evening of great fun. It sure would be fun for him as well-

He frowned when he noticed Kanda look around cautiously. Only then he heard a slightly louder buzz of devices downstairs. He got up to check what was happening, but then, without his initiative, the lightscreen over the desk appeared and from it Alice was grinning at him. He stared back at her stunned.

'It's so hard to get to you when you're all aware!' she chirped away. 'Well, I admit, you are just proficient in blocking the connection but that only proves your worth-'

'How did you do that?' Lavi interrupted her, uncertain if he should be amazed or worried. The giggle did nothing to solve his distress.

'You know, a building that is basically drowning in Connex is no problem for me,' she explained. 'Reaching it is way too simple and then I just had to read the cameras to find you and pop up in the right place-'

'I said I wanted to talk to you in person,' Lavi reminded her, now getting annoyed with her cockiness.

'I'm on my way, silly, I just wanted a nice introduction to the party!'

'Log off from here,' he ordered and she giggled at that.

'Make me,' she teased and he glared at her as he only could. He wasted no time and went to the control panel by the doors. He ignored her complaints at moving out of her current vision range and tapped in the long code into the keyboard. With a whine-like sound, all the equipment in mediatheque died down and a ringing silence surrounded them.

Maintenance system reacted in precisely ten seconds and started reviving everything into a stand by mode one by one. The electric buzz resumed, although quieter, when the backup was running a check for the cause of the breakdown before resuming full operative power of computers.

'Not that I know much about the Connex shit,' Kanda started quietly and suspiciously. 'But that was not a usual thing to do.' Lavi winced at the words as he got more of the meaning that was said. He would have to explain everything to him if he wanted his help.

'No, she's hacking through the whole Connex wide and far,' he admitted waving away the piercing glare.

'What does she want from you?' Lavi sighted at the question and looked up straight at Yuu.

'I don't know. Yet,' he replied. 'That's why I invited her here to get to know that.'

'Then what do you need me here for? I have no idea about the stuff.'

'I need Yuu to keep guard,' Lavi replied with a playful smile, covering up for his worries. Kanda was about to say something biting at that, judging by the glare, but then a small screen lit up by the doors, revealing a figure at the entrance to the mediatheque. Alice was standing there, smiling brightly at the camera, her black shorts and a white shirt with a big bow by the collar making her look like an innocent schoolgirl. The electric blue sparkle in her eyes said otherwise.

Lavi pressed the right buttons and the doors opened, letting her in. She sped up the stairs and all but jumped at him and hugged him in a tight embrace. In the very moment he saw the eruption of blue glow all around them.

Furious, he pushed her away and making the Connex glow disappear.

'Don't fuck with me,' he hissed, his teeth clenched in the effort to fight down the urge to scratch his suddenly itchy right eye socket. He walked away and sat down on the chair.

Alice watched him go and then followed, taking place on the table in front of him.

'You are aware that if I won't someone else will do that soon,' she said sounding serious for once, her eyes calm but not losing the bluish spark. Lavi considered her for a moment. He leaned forward and pulled her hair back at the sides, revealing the discrete piece of headgear over her one ear and connecting with the other. He searched for the tiny switch in the back of the equipment and turned it off, noticing well how she shivered upon being logged off Connex. She said nothing, however, and he gently took off the headgear and put it away onto the table. Then, he leaned back comfortably in his chair, crossed his arms and pinned her with his one-eyed glare.

'What do you want from me?' he asked in his best business-like tone and hid well his worries when he saw her lips split in a huge grin that was not all that pleasant.

'We want you,' she said merrily. 'We want your ability to log on and off without any unnecessary equipment. We want the splendid possibilities your special gear offers.'

'But I don't want to be pulled into whatever you're doing,' he replied sternly. 'I enjoy my life as it is, as far from the damn net as I can only get.'

'You are never far from it,' she pointed out truthfully. 'Otherwise I would have never found you in Inner. They would never be able to track you down.' He frowned at her and urged her to elaborate. 'They keep an eye on you in the club to see if you're behaving well. They probably wait for the best moment to take you back with Them and use you to Their needs, to what They made you for-'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Kanda butted in suddenly and only then Alice seemed to notice his presence. She gazed at him surprised while Lavi looked away feeling highly uncomfortable.

'Well look at you, pretty,' the girl chirped under his glare. 'Your lack of digital presence made you effectively invisible to me before.' Yuu frowned at her but then ignored and turned straight to the redhead.

'What is she talking about?' he demanded and Lavi sighted resigned. He knew it'd come to this one of the days. Slowly, he took off his eyepatch and pulled back the hair falling down his face. He opened his right eye and with the left he watched Kanda's face turn from annoyance to genuine surprise tinged with a fair bit of distaste. Well, he couldn't blame the other for the reaction, knowing how he despised the whole Connex as an idea. And here he had his friend, looking at him with a shiny metal sphere instead on an eye, clearly high technology fixed into his body. And from the previous talk he could surely guess that it was an instant and constant way into the Connex that could be used freely. He hated his life at times like that.

'The hell is that, idiot rabbit?' Yuu asked incredulously, a tinge of betrayal clearly audible in his voice. It hurt, but he knew he deserved it. It was a huge secret that he kept for himself for years, never really meaning to share it. He had a few good reasons for that.

'A leash I can't get rid off if I still want to live,' he replied nervously. He was about to continue on the matter but he was distracted by the flashing, small light on Alice's headgear. He frowned at it and then at her. 'I switched it off,' he pointed out accusingly.

'You can never switch it off completely,' she said thoughtfully. 'And this spells danger. Can I use the computer here?' she asked and almost did not wait for his nod. She hopped off the table and called up the lightscreen. She worked fast on numbers and commands while the two of them watched her carefully trying to follow her actions.

'There,' she said when she finally stopped her work with a view on Batcave club on the lightscreen. She pointed at a group of four guys sitting motionlessly at a table. 'You'd call them connaddicts, we call them Fronts. My guess is that the warning meant that the system took them over and will use them now as the front of their surveillance. On you, most likely,' she added giving him a brief glance. 'We eliminate them all the time and they still keep popping up like crazy.'

'You what?' Lavi asked not liking the meaning the words could carry. However, whatever answer he'd get, none came, when they saw the guys wake up and move in one direction. Like dolls.

Alice worked on the views and cameras and soon they saw someone rushing through the crowd, making their escape from the club-

'Sharon?' Lavi asked out loud surprised. Why would They chase her if she was working for Connex? Did she do something-

'Hey guy,' Alice's words made him look at her and he saw she had her gear back on and was talking to it. 'Your bird is being chased. Yes, I'm here.' She gazed at Lavi with a small smile. 'Yes. Ok, deal. See you.' She stared straight at him. 'I need your help to get the chic out of trouble. At least, out of the bigger trouble that are the Fronts on her tail.' The redhead frowned at her.

'What help?' Alice grinned.

'I need you to take both of us to Inner so we can hunt the hunter and push the prey into the right place.' Lavi sighted.

'I have the impression I'm being framed,' he muttered and the wide smile on the girls face was all the confirmation he needed. Fuck this life.

Alice sat on the table and held out her hands and he took them only with the smallest hesitation. He looked up at Yuu and met the confused glare that was still laced with hurt.

'Keep your eyes open,' he said with his best pleading tone and the next thing he knew they were surrounded by delicate bluish glow of Inner. Alice hopped off the table and looked around carefully while he was examining his own hands. This was so weird, he thought and then, nudged by a sudden impulse, looked up. Yuu was not there. Not even the faintest shadow where he stood. Gross, he thought and shivered.

He turned around when Alice called him and said they were going. She looked like she was holding something, an invisible thread, and she stretched a hand towards him. He took it and then everything blurred in electric blue and gray.

Images appeared and disappeared in fast sequence and it made him nauseous, figuratively speaking, as he had no stomach here to be turned upside down. Which was good. In a way.

The vision stopped and he recognized the place as the outer side of the East Gate. He gazed ahead and saw a view that made his eye widen. There was a half-formed, desaturated shadow speeding their way, chased by three damn solid riders on their bikes. What the hell?

Alice raised her hand up and aimed at the shadow up front. There was a delicate gleam passing over it and for the briefest moment he saw it take a solid form: it was Sharon. The definite shape disappeared and the shadow and its pursuit passed by them with no sound or movement of air.

'Let's get to their destination,' Alice said cheerfully.

'What did you do?' he asked before letting her pull him again. She frowned, probably at the lack of reaction to her movement command, and then looked at him with a sigh.

'I placed a suggestion to navigation app in her motorbike. It will take her where we want and are able to control the events,' she replied patiently.

'We! Who are you people anyway?' he exclaimed exasperated and her wide grin unnerved him.

'You'll see for yourself soon,' she assured him. 'And now let's get going to be there before our pray,' she added and this time he let her pull him along.

After a set of subsequent images they stopped at the entrance to the Old Square. Alice pulled him into a building and they went up to the first floor. They took their places by the knocked out window overlooking the Square and had no time to talk. Soon, the shadow slid into the very centre and stopped there. It was constantly changing between the shapeless mass and a solid outline and it was seriously making him feel sick. Not only from the visual effects but also the awareness that everybody was floating between the digital and real constantly. It had to make people go crazy. It was making him go nuts.

He shook his head and watched how the pursuers entered the Square.

'Got it,' he heard Alice say but before he asked her what it meant, he felt a deep vibration shake the digital solid landscape. He felt it resonate in every cell of his body and he heard, at the edge of his hearing range, a terrifying static of wails and cries of thousands of voices. He pressed his hands against his ears and willed the Noise to die away.

He watched numbly how Alice got up and walked to the window, he saw her aim at the pursuers with a smirk. He watched them tremble and wither away into nothingness in a matter of seconds. He blinked away his surprise and worry and then realized the static was gone.

A painful cry tore the momentary silence and, where the shadow once have been, he saw Sharon flicker into existence, screaming her lungs out. Soon enough, she fell limp in the arms of someone holding her. However, before Lavi registered anything else then a mass of white and violet he felt a tug at his arm. Immediately he realized what it was.

He grabbed Alice's hand, ignoring her questioning gaze, and used all his will to bring them back to the surface.

His awareness returned to his body with a heavy weight and he gasped surprised. He blinked his vision back and saw that pulling the girl out he actually managed to pull her onto his lap. However, before the implications of their position reached him, he felt an iron squeeze on his arm and heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering downstairs. The doors.

He gazed up at Kanda's attentive face and when their eyes met they spelled the same thing: fucking danger.


	8. 001 00111 Pursuit

**The title of the chapter is from "Pursuit" by Icon of Coil - put it on for reading :3**

* * *

 **001 00111 Pursuit**

It took them the second crash of glass to wake up from the shock. Kanda moved swiftly to close and barricade the doors while Lavi jumped to the camera control to see what exactly was happening downstairs. He reported immediately that some three, zombie like guys were trying to breach the tempered safety glass with simple iron bars. Alice snorted at that. When the redhead turned to her she was switching off some things on her headgear.

'Keep as far from Connex as you can,' she advised and started working on the lightscreen. As far as he could understand she was disconnecting the cameras observing them and then putting up some blocking walls around the room.

'Then why you still have it on?' he asked suspiciously.

'I'm cut off from the net, it's just low frequency radio waves that I use,' she replied sharply and then tapped something into her equipment. 'Hey guy,' she said to the microphone. 'We need backup here and fast, Fronts are climbing our backs; Negative, the stairs or the cliff; Great, just great, we'll jump while you get your lazy ass to some computers and cut them off for good; Jerk.'

Alice looked up at them again.

'The thing is, if some Fronts are controlled by Connex then whoever is on the other side can jump into others they meet and change their host,' she explained quickly, ignoring Kanda's annoyed "what the fuck are you driveling about". Instead, she went over to the window, shivering when they all heard the second doors downstairs give in finally.

'There is supposed to be an abandoned housing district somewhere close,' she said uncertainly pointing outside. 'You know the way?'

'No Connex no thinking,' Yuu muttered irritated and worried at the same time. 'Of course I know the way,' he spat and pulled the girl away from the window. He took the chair that Lavi occupied previously and hoisted it up. The redhead managed to scream "no" in the very same moment as metal collided with glass and, on the other side of the room, hammering at the doors resounded.

Window shattered into a million pieces that littered the ground underneath. The doors started caving in.

Kanda pulled the seriously freaked out Lavi to the huge hole.

'There is a ladder on the wall,' he said in a rush. 'Try to reach it while I hold you,' he instructed pushing him forward. The redhead honestly thought his friend had gone nuts in a matter of few minutes and he said so. However, whatever else he wanted to add was cut by the more urgent hammering at the door. He cursed once again his damn life and gazed out at the black void on the other side of the gaping hole that was once a window. He swallowed thickly and tried to drown his own mind saying that he was insane now as well.

With one leg still on the second floor and one arm held firmly by his friend, Lavi tried to reach for anything that could pass for a steel ladder, not seeing a thing on the unlit side of Batcave. He was doing his best not to panic and trying to calm his racing heart. To no avail.

He almost cried relieved when his hand finally met a steel bar and he put the biggest effort ever to find a support for his foot. When he managed that, he followed Kanda's instructions to carefully transfer his weight onto the other leg. Of course, he told Kanda to let go of him a bit too fast.

He lost his balance and slipped from a rung. He managed, by sheer miracle, to stop himself from falling, grabbing the ladder with both hands. He felt his arms stretch painfully, supporting his whole weight, but managed to find another rung to put his feet. He took a few deep breaths to calm and called back to his worried friend that he was ok. He started going down hearing, above him, Kanda instructing Alice what to do.

Once down he saw, in the dim glow coming from the room, how the girl was already going down the ladder. And when he saw Yuu trying to reach for the escape on his own, he heard another dead terrifying sound that night: the metal doors to the room gave in.

Kanda looked back into the room sharply and he pushed himself back inside.

'No!' Lavi screamed at the top of his lungs and, as soon as Alice jumped off the ladder, he reached for it and started climbing back up, ignoring the girl's heated protests. He was not leaving without Yuu, not when he pulled him into the mess himself.

He tried to not over interpret the sounds that he was hearing from above, realizing it was a fierce fight. How many guys were there? Three? Goddamnit, let it not be more! He knew that Kanda was a very fit person, training regularly and such, but was he a good fighter? He had to be for fuck's sake!

Lavi cried out surprised when he saw a shadow fall from the window but in the glow from the inside he saw an unfamiliar face disappearing in the darkness and he sighted in relief. Right then he saw Yuu leaning out of the window and aiming for the ladder. He looked a bit disheveled but otherwise ok, so Lavi shot him his best smile ever, even though he knew his friend would not see it in the darkness.

With the glow behind Kanda's back, he saw him reach blindly forward. He stretched his arm to grab his friend and guide him fast to the ladder and snickered at the surprised frown he could make out on the shadowed features.

'Idiot rabbit, you should have run,' he gasped out a bit breathlessly, making Lavi frown worried and ask his friend if he was ok. He treated another grumpy insult as a positive reply and helped the other stand firmly on the rung.

'I would never find a way,' he said cheerfully as they were going down and giggled at some more curses from above.

'Did you kill them?' Alice, sounding impatient, greeted them when they reached the ground.

'No,' Kanda replied disdainfully. 'We'd better get moving before they come to,' he added and then said they should carefully go down the steep slope under their feet. And when they reached the bottom blindly, Lavi felt a hand grab his wrist firmly and pull him forward. He heard, from somewhere in front of him, that they better keep together to not get lost. At least, until they reach a place where moon and stars would give enough light to see each other's silhouettes. The redhead reached somewhere to his left to grab Alice, and when he felt her hand, he pulled her behind him. He smirked when he heard her mumble something about the "fucking lack of civilization".

Quite fast they found themselves under the dim moonlight. There, Kanda switched to a slower jog that they still could follow, not knowing the ground and surroundings. The run, however, did not last all that long. In a matter of minutes they found themselves again under the trees and the deep darkness swallowed them again. They grabbed each other again and stumbled through the forest slowly.

On the way, none of them dared to speak up and break the ringing silence. Lavi wondered how much time it'd take for their pursuers to gather back up. How much time did they have before whoever was behind it would send drones to look for them and find more people to control and send? Connex worked everywhere and with the extreme accuracy of maps there would be no problem to draw the way and do a wild hunt. God damn it, they were in so much trouble right now.

Why did they try to get them anyway?

As far as he knew, their signal would be mixed into the one emitted by the mediatheque so there shouldn't be any way to recognize their trace. Unless, they somehow monitored his signal and noticed him interfering with their affairs, when they chased Sharon. However, if that was the case, then he was of absolutely no use for Alice, since They would always find him and track him and crush whatever he was planning to do.

Why did They never approach him when he was sleeping?

Lavi took another step and bumped into something soft. He hissed when his still delicate nose collided with Kanda's back and stepped back and felt Alice walk right into him with a surprised gasp and an annoyed huff.

He heard a quiet string of curses in front of him and then the faintest squeak of doors opening. Then, he was pulled forward and, what he could only guess by the sudden echo around them, inside a building. He pulled Alice also in and then they closed the doors. They followed Kanda deeper inside until he spat quietly "stay here" and disappeared. Lavi wanted to call after him but stopped himself before that. Clearly, the less sounds they made the batter and it seemed his friend knew the way around.

After painfully long and distressing few minutes, he heard a faint rustle and then something was pressed into his hands.

'Infrared glasses,' a voice barely louder then a whisper said and Lavi put the thing on. He frowned when nothing changed and then heard Kanda mutter some more and then he felt him press something on the side of the glasses.

A completely uncharacteristic interior appeared in front of his eyes. The room was huge and empty, trash littering just about every inch along the walls, a clear space kept in the middle. He gazed around and saw the windows sealed with planks instead of glass and frames left after ripped out doors. In one of them he noticed a staircase leading up and down.

'What is this place?' he asked in the lowest whisper he could make, not daring to disturb the silence more. Kanda snorted.

'Forester's lodge, long abandoned,' Kanda said simply and just a tiny bit smugly.

'Not that I care much about the place, but how the hell did you get those?' Alice butted in, pointing at the glasses they were all wearing now.

'Found them here. Kids from the orphanage near here use this house as a hideout and playground,' Yuu said with clear reserve towards the girl in his voice. Lavi remembered, when they were back in the damn orphanage, witnessing kids sneaking in and out at night, including Yuu at times. He made a mental note to ask about it when they're safe. 'They don't have Connex to play with.'

'Well they sure have some fancy stuff here anyway,' she said, kind of oblivious to his glare. 'But I don't think we should stay here. There is supposed to be an abandoned school in the housing estate that we will have cleared before–'

'We'll have to cross the road to get there,' Kanda cut her through, shutting her up immediately.

'Why did you never say that before?' she demanded with a frown.

'You never said you wanted the school,' he bit back and they glared for a moment at each other.

'Guys, stop this,' Lavi butted in with a sigh. 'This is pointless–' he stopped when he saw a single light flash on Alice's headgear. She flicked the switch.

'Hey; Wait, we can't get there 'cos there's a road in the way; Where? The hell if I knew! There's a forest around and, and, no for fuck's sake I'm not afraid; No, you get us out of here; You – what?!'

Alice fell silent and gazed at them.

'There are some drones flying from the City,' she said to them and they both stared at her with wide eyes.

'Drones?' Lavi repeated with shock. 'Already?'

'We need a place that we can reach fast and in the cover of the forest but one that has an easy access to the road,' she said both to them and to the microphone. Kanda huffed annoyed and then smirked smugly. He obviously enjoyed being in control, seeing how he gazed daringly at the girl. Alice glared at him and opened her mouth to speak up but he did not let her.

'There's glassworks building to the North from here,' he said and she repeated it to whoever she was talking to. There was a sequence of "yes" and "no" and then she switched off her gear and gazed straight at them. She looked thoroughly displeased and Lavi's best guess was that she did not like to give away leadership and initiative in her work. And here she was constantly being proved wrong and powerless.

'They'll set a block out there for us to hide and someone will come and get us,' she said. They both nodded and Kanda already made it for the doors. He turned around to them and smirked evilly.

'I hope you're fit for jogging,' he mocked and got two glares in reply.

Lavi has never run as fast and as blindly in his whole life. Sure, he had the infrared glasses, that were a true blessing, but it did not help much with his balance and depth perception. He fell not once and barely avoided a head on crash with a tree, many times. He was panting and exhausted, his heart racing from the race and traps he avoided or failed to, when they finally reached a spot where ruins of houses started popping up between the trees. It was awfully familiar.

Kanda slowed down there and motioned them to keep quiet. Lavi had to put a hand over his mouth to muffle his heavy breathing. The last thing he wanted was to alert anybody to their presence.

They slipped in one file along the walls when they heard the worst sound they could fear there: the faint buzz of a flying drone. In a few quick steps, Kanda jumped into the half collapsed building and they followed. And waited.

Alice tugged at their sleeves and mouthed a warning soundlessly.

"They have heat detection."

Lavi almost slapped a hand at his face, angry that they did not think of that. He turned his desperate gaze at Kanda and was momentarily startled that he was smirking.

"There're more people here." Kanda replied without sound and they both watched him with wide eyes, disbelief and shock as clear as the darkness around them. Lavi shook away the feelings, cursing his own forgetfulness at the conditions in which people lived in these parts. After all, he did not have it much better after They kicked him out and before he found the orphanage, he thought with a shiver. Immediately, he shook the memories out of his head.

Kanda motioned them to move as soon as the buzz of the drone died away.

They crept in the shadows, in between the trees and through the dilapidating buildings. They hid from drones and people, trying to pass as much unnoticed as they could only manage. And with great relief they saw the dark tower of glassworks cut from the black sky.

They heard yet another drone and slipped in between the walls of the last house on their way. They suffered from the longest wait in their life so far, listening to the buzz and watching their destination just ahead of them. Lavi felt the anxiety nearly choke him and he tried to breathe a bit more calmly.

At a sign, they shot up from their hideout and ran as fast as they only could through the railroads and towards the building. They basically fell through the ripped out doors, into the enormous hall of the glassworks and did not stop there. They still had two more building to pass before they reached the one on the side of the road. They dashed without a smallest halt.

Doors. Passage between halls. Hall. Doors. Passage–

Lights lit up as soon as they fell out of the building and they froze still. So close! Lavi cried desperately inside of his chest as he gazed, blinded, into the two lamps. For fuck's sake, no!

Car doors opened and two shadows stepped out.

* * *

 **AN: I love cliffhangers :3**

 **Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	9. 001 01000 Wake up

**001 01000 Wake up**

A terrible, ever-present ache was the first thing Sharon registered when she woke up. Every single smallest bit of her body felt as if there were needles stuck everywhere. She felt them pierce her flesh with each, even the smallest move she made and she couldn't stop the painful whines and gasps from escaping her lips. What the hell got her into such a state, she thought, tears trailing down her cheeks. Did she fall off her bike or something? She opened her eyes slowly and the night's darkness was something she welcomed gladly. She turned her head to the side and saw a very familiar sight: her bedside table. Her mind stopped for a moment. If she had an accident, shouldn't she be in a medical care center?

Just then, images from the evening flooded into her head, making her choke on her own breath. And then she heard the distant buzz of her huge equipment that she knew she turned off before leaving.

She tried getting up from her bed but ended up falling from it and crying out in pain. She clenched her teeth and crawled on all four to the nearest wall, wincing form the effort, but determined to make it to the right room. She hoisted herself up, clinging tight to the doorframe, panting. She would have cursed if she only could catch her breath properly.

Leaning against the wall heavily she made her way through the corridor and towards the doors left unclosed. Carefully, not to fall down, she pushed them open and froze still where she stood.

In the middle on the room, in between the whole equipment, someone was kneeling, curled up. Sharon felt panic rise inside of her and she imagined the worst scenarios possible. Against all reason she took a few shaky steps inside and stopped right next to the figure. Holding onto the tall server box, she lifted one of her legs and pushed at the human being.

She gasped surprised when she recognized the guy as he rolled onto his side limply. No, no, no that was impossible! What was he doing here?! How did he find her?! Wait, stop. Was this room even real? Was he here for real?

She gazed around frantically trying to decide if what she was seeing was the real world. It had to be, right? They would not drag her into Inner just like that. Right?

Who was it anyway, the guy that sent her unconscious?

Sharon almost jumped and fell over when she heard a quiet gasp. She looked down at the guy and saw him roll onto his back and move his hands up gingerly, unsurely. He rubbed his face with a sigh and then took off the headgear. He put it away and then looked up. His eyes widened briefly in surprise and then he shot her the widest, brightest grin she's ever seen.

'You look like you saw a ghost,' Leo chirped away merrily as he stiffly got up. Stunned into silence, she looked straight into his eyes and realized with a jolt that they were not violet anymore but intensively gleaming with electric blue. What the heck?

'You can't possibly know how happy I am that you're awake, alas, we don't really have time to play around,' he continued as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 'We should get going,' he added extending his arms towards her but she shoved them away. And lost her balance completely.

Leo grabbed her mid-fall and hoisted her up. He pulled her arm around his neck and wrapped his around her waist. He led her back to her bedroom as she tried to calm her breathing. And then a terrifying thought came to her mind. With her free hand she grabbed the guy's clothes and pulled at them. He turned his disturbing, questioning gaze at her.

'They can find us here,' she gasped out. 'They can follow me here-' He put a finger at her lips, surprising her into silence, and grinned widely.

'That I took care of,' he said smugly. 'I had quite a busy evening when you were sleeping. For all the proficiency of your dives you have no idea about one thing: security. I've spent an hour jamming the signals from that fancy equipment of yours, misdirecting the information and covering up your work from yesterday. Of which we still need to talk but that will have to wait until we do our current task-'

'Stop,' she said as forcefully as she could and he shut up, surprisingly. He helped her sit down on the bed and gazed at her expectantly, the smile never leaving his face. She took a deep, calming breath.

'Who the hell are you people?' she asked the question she was itching to ask for a while now. 'What did you do to me?' Leo grinned mischievously.

'We broke your biting restraints,' he exclaimed in a cheerful voice while she watched him skeptically.

'Somehow I don't see it like that,' she muttered. 'The guy yesterday, who was it?'

'Where do you keep your keys to the motorbike?' he asked instead of answering and started looking around, peeking into every drawer or cabinet he could see.

'Stop this, god damn it!' she cried out feeling the boiling anger rising in her. He obliged and gazed at her with the mischievous shine in his eyes that said clearly he was doing that just to humor her. She sighted resigned and pointed her bedside table. She heard the guy mutter "splendid" and he walked there and took the little thing. She watched him walk up to her, looking plain satisfied, and kneeled in front of her. He took out a strangely looking headgear and moved his hand up to fix it on her. Sharon grabbed his hand and gazed at him questioningly. She did not like how he was dealing with her and how she had no way or energy to change that.

'You can't use your old stuff anymore,' he said with a mocking smirk. 'Besides, you won't need the big stuff anymore and our special gear is perfectly enough for you to reach your level,' he explained and moved to fix the gear, now without any protests, Somehow, Sharon felt absolutely resigned to what was now happening to her. She knew that her rage and resolution would come back with full force when she had her energy back-

She gasped surprised when Leo switched on the connection. For a moment, she saw the world gleam in bluish light, but then she blinked and shook her head to clear the vision.

'You will be able now to switch on command between here and there so keep that in mind,' he explained seriously. 'That, of course, is only valid for the lowest level you reached but it's perfectly fine for now,' he added with a smirk and she frowned at him, the meaning of his words reaching her with some delay. And when it did, stared at him wide-eyed.

'You watched me!' she exclaimed irritated. 'You spied on me all the time and when I was trying to reach the Inner you... you blocked me.' He grinned quite evilly.

'We have enough people in the Inner,' he said getting up and pulling her with him. He wrapped an arm around her waist to help her walk and guided her for the doors. 'We needed someone in between to keep an eye on another important level, one that will lead us to the place we are looking for currently. And guess what, you will be the one to guide us, as soon as you're fit for work. But that, however, will have to wait a bit-' he stopped talking abruptly as they entered the parking lot. He motioned her to keep quiet as well. Only then she heard a quiet murmur of a talk somewhere to their right. He turned to her and frowned, his eyes saying clearly she was a burden in the moment. She glared at him just for the sake of it and he, with a small smirk, helped her to sit down on the floor. He motioned her to keep hidden.

With some shock she watched him take out two guns. He unlocked them soundlessly and stepped out bluntly into the open space. She wanted to scream he was nuts but, before she could do as much as take a breath, there were two simultaneous shots and two hollow thuds. She shivered at the images her mind provided and listened to the quick footsteps. She heard her bike start and it came up to her in a matter of seconds. Leo pulled her up to sit behind him.

'Hold on tight,' he said with a grin and as soon as she wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, he set off with the fastest acceleration the bike could offer.

Sharon squeezed her eyes shut and pulled in closer to the guy, using all her meager strength to hold onto him. Damn it! Did he even know you could die in the real world, driving like that?

Then, suddenly, they stopped.

Sharon looked up confused and instantly her eyes widened. What. The. Fuck. She felt completely numb as she watched the lights in front of them, as she listened to the electric buzz ahead and the mad snicker just before her. That was not happening, she thought and clasped her hands against her ears to block the loud bang of gun series.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	10. 001 01001 Sleep

**001 01001 Sleep**

'Don't do anything stupid,' Alice hissed at them as they watched the two men come nearer, heavy guns in their hands. Right after that she said something short to her microphone, something that sounded like "fucking trap, you idiot". So their rescue did not manage to get through, Lavi thought with a sinking feeling. He felt all his previous hope crumble and crash to the ground with a loud finality. They finally got him, he thought suddenly angry that he dragged Kanda with him. He had nothing to do with the mess!

'Hands up,' one of the guys said and they obeyed instantly. The man moved his hand up to his headgear and tapped something there. For a moment they neared them in silence, both watching them carefully.

'You two,' he said finally nodding and Alice and Lavi. 'You're coming with us. You're under arrest on charges of illicit digital interference. You,' he turned to Kanda. 'Are useless.' He aimed his gun at the shocked guy.

Lavi acted before he thought. With the speed he would never expect from himself, he jumped at his only friend and threw him to the ground, covering him with his own body. They would not kill him, he repeated in his head, they would never make such a waste cos they needed him and that way he could protect Kanda. He had to.

The swish of bullets above him made him tremble with fear. However, there were only a few and they stopped right away.

'Get up,' he heard the man order him.

'No,' he cried not daring to look up. They would not kill him, he was too precious a lab rat for them.

'Don't make a scene,' the guy said more irritated.

'You won't have me without him,' Lavi threatened knowing it looked goddamn pathetic to act like that. And that he was playing on his luck maybe too much. But he would not lose Kanda.

There was a moment of silence and he dared a sideway glance. He saw the man communicate with someone through Connex, glaring at them angrily. After a moment, he put his hand down and tucked his gun back into the holster. He took out handcuffs.

'Get up, fag, we're taking all of you,' he said and first walked up to Alice and twisted her hands violently behind her back to cuff them. She hissed and glared at him, cursing soundlessly.

Lavi was pulled off the ground, smiling slightly at the "idiot rabbit" he heard from under him. He would have giggled if he wasn't so goddamn afraid what would happen next.

He heard the man walk up to him but, instead of tying his hands, he kicked the redhead in the back of his legs, making him kneel. Lavi gasped surprised and bit his lip to not let the painful whimpers escaping his lips. He dared not utter a single sound as the man brutally cuffed his hands behind his back. He swallowed down the curses and gasps.

He watched from his position as the guy cuffed Kanda brutally, making him hiss, he heard him snicker and say "you will regret being saved". Right after that, the man hoisted Lavi up violently and led him, unsteady on his legs, to the back of the van. He opened the doors and told him to get in. However, when Lavi's legs were not fit to follow the order, the man got mad again. He led a strong blow into the redhead's stomach and then basically kicked him inside. He slid down the floor and stopped on the far wall, his head colliding with it painfully. Lavi gasped and groaned from pain and his eye clouded for the moment. He willed himself to not lose if just yet and saw, even though a bit out of focus, how Kanda and Alice got in as well. He blinked and managed to smile a little but then, when the doors closed, darkness took him over.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Slight swaying of the car was the first thing that reached his waking senses and the movement made him groan, displeased.

'Lavi?' he heard the familiar, worried voice and just had to smile.

'I'm glad Yuu is here,' he whuspered and opened his eye to see the annoyed frown in the darkness of the closed car. He realized, with a jolt, that their captors did not take off their infrared glasses. Hell, they probably had no idea what it was, the thought and snickered. 'Why you never took me to the lodge?' he asked lightly, the glasses making him think to the abandoned place. Kanda huffed annoyed.

'You'd be useless in the night runs,' he said and Lavi snickered at that.

'You're awfully cheerful for the situation,' Alice butted in and he saw her sulking in the far corner. He grinned at her brilliantly, ignoring the throbbing in his head caused by the movement.

'You're lovely friend is not coming?' he asked mockingly and withstood her glare with a smile.

'He's not answering,' she pouted looking away. Right then, he thought, she looked really cute for the first time. And it looked quite funny. Lavi was about to tease her more but then the car shook violently. There were loud bangs coming form the outside and then the car stopped abruptly. And started turning over.

Lavi felt himself slide unwillingly onto the other side on the car, straight at Kanda. Thankfully, his friend had a great reflex and he managed somehow to move from his trajectory of fall.

The car flipped to the side heavily, shaking them all painfully, and it slid on with a dreadful screech.

There was a terrible ringing in his ears and Lavi came back to his senses. He was panting heavily, sitting curled, squeezed between a wall and Kanda. He stirred calling his friend and, after a moment, he heard him groan and shift stiffly. He grinned at him a bit breathlessly.

'The fuck was that?' Yuu spat out angrily trying to move in any way his cuffed wrists allowed him to.

'I think we crashed,' the redhead said so cheerfully that it made Kanda gaze at him doubtfully.

'Did you hit your head one time too many?' he asked and there was the tiny bit of worry clearly audible in his voice. Lavi grinned at that and then remembered the last part of their small group. He gazed pass his friend and saw Alice there, lying on her side and breathing fast, shallow. He called out to her a few times before she stirred.

'I'm gonna kill the fucking dumbass,' she hissed barely audibly and he frowned at her. He was about to ask what she meant when he heard some noise from the front of the car. It sounded as if someone was crushing the windshield and if was absolutely not a welcome sound. Did the guys survive and were now trying to get out? No, no, no, no, no, that was not possible, he thought frantically. He would not have that.

Some quiet shuffling followed the noise and then they heard footsteps circling the car. Someone tugged at the doors in the back, viciously, nervously. There were some muffled curses and a few gun shots followed. With a sharp crash the doors gave in and one part fell open.

Dim light spilled into the car and, against it, Lavi saw someone get inside and walk up to Alice, who was lying right at the entrance. A guy kneeled beside her and they had a quick sharp conversation, too quiet to be heard from their spot. The guy took off her handcuffs and helped her up and-

Alice kicked him into his stomach with all force. The guy doubled up and fell to one knee.

'The fuck were you thinking, you moron!' the girl screamed at him at the top of her lungs. 'You could have fucking killed us!' She aimed another kick but the guy caught her leg and, with a silly snicker, he pulled her to the ground and then pinned her.

'Can you truly say you regret my thoughtless rush?' he asked mischievously.

'Sorry to disturb you,' Lavi called out, interrupting what he supposed would be a long exchange of pleasantries, and saw two faces turn their direction sharply. And only then they heard the buzz of a drone.

The guy cursed and pulled a gun out but, before he managed to do more than straighten on his knees, the mech appeared in front of them, blinding them with its light. In the same moment there were a few loud gunshots, echoing terribly in the broken car, and the machine fell to the ground useless.

The guy got up and pulled Alice with him, pushing the gun into her hands, and he came up to them. He frowned confused and turned to Alice.

'Since when you take fare dodgers?' he shouted with a smirk.

'Shut it and uncuff them both,' she spat going out and looking around carefully.

'Oh well, it doesn't matter really,' the guy muttered in a sing-song voice and he worked on their handcuffs. 'Anyway, I'm Leo, and which one of you is the wonder boy? I take it's not the pretty face as it'd be too much good for one person-'

'Say that one more time and you won't speak again,' Kanda butted in threateningly, making the other giggle, unperturbed.

'Not only pretty but also harsh, I like that-' he started again, cutting short and backing away as soon as he was done. 'Now come along we need to hurry to-' his voice dawned in the series from the gun and a crash of another broken machine. 'God damn it,' he muttered and left, taking another gun out.

Lavi gazed at Kanda doubtfully and the other shrugged his shoulders.

'We don't have much choice,' he said with a sigh and helped the redhead up, frowning at the pained gasps.

'I'll be fine,' Lavi assured him not really feeling much like recovering soon, his abdomen painful and his head spinning. 'I just hope we're not getting ourselves in anything worse...' he added quietly as they made their way out. They walked around the car, following the other two and there stopped surprised again.

'Sharon?' Lavi said incredulously seeing the girl, barely keeping up on the bike. She looked up sharply and her eyes widened when she recognized him.

'What are you doing here?' she asked shocked and very much worried but, whatever answer he'd give her, he had no chance.

The roar of the engine cut all the talks and soon a van showed up, with its lights dimmed, and came to an abrupt halt right in front of them. Two guns aimed at it without delay.

Doors opened and a guy came out, his hands up high, his face twisted in a wide, pleasant grin. He had dark short hair and a strange scar across his nose. Lavi felt Yuu twitch at the sight but when he looked up, the pale face was as indifferent as always. If not for the eyes : they were shining ever so slightly with something akin to disbelief and anger and hope. The redhead committed that reaction to memory for further investigation.

'You scared us, damn it!' Alice exclaimed and the guy shot her an even brighter smile.

'I heard you needed a ride,' the guy said and got back inside. Alice almost pulled Lavi and Kanda to the back of the van, while she took the front seat.

'Drive,' she said urgently. 'Before more drones come,' she added and the engine roared. Lavi saw Leo take the motorbike and drive right behind them as they gained speed quickly.

That's way too much for me, he though and he let his head rest on Kanda's shoulder. He closed his heavy eyelids and sleep took him instantly, the warmth at his side making him feel absolutely safe.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	11. 001 01010 Confinement

**001 01010 Confinement**

The ceiling above Lavi's head was completely unfamiliar. Once it probably had a nice, warm colour, now, however, it was peeling off in grayish orange. He frowned at it, wondering where the hell he was anyway and how he got there. The last thing he remembered was the steady swaying of the truck, muffled conversations and the reassuring comfort of Kanda's shoulder. God damn it, he thought and winced, lifting his hands to rub the frustration off his face. And he froze when he heard the soft clinking of a metal chain. He moved his head slowly to the side and gazed at his right wrist that was wrapped in a very solid looking cuff. And there was a very solid looking chain attached to it, going all the way down to the floor and coiling there in quite a length. What the fuck?! He thought and then repeated it out loud.

'Your new friends for you,' said a biting, irritated voice somewhere close to him and Lavi looked around immediately. There, on the other side of the room, on the bed that looked rather comfortable, he saw Kanda sitting with his legs crossed. His one wrist was also cuffed and his face was a mask of deep anger. And betrayal. The redhead sighted heavily, finally faced with the worst confrontation of his life.

'Yuu is my only friend,' he said sitting up himself and wincing from the sudden pain in his whole body. He massaged lightly his bruised abdomen, hissing at the sensations it brought.

'You don't lie to friends,' Kanda said with a cold accusation and that, together with the heavy glare, hurt more than the bruises. Lavi sighted resigned and sat back comfortably with his back against the wall. He made a point of holding the other's gaze firmly.

'It's nothing to boast about, having the damn thing inserted basically into your brain,' he said trying to keep his calm. He took a deep breath and let the heavy words come out stumbling over each other. 'I've lost count how many surgeries They did and how many tests They ran me through when I was in those sterile walls. I have no idea how much time I've spent there but I remember very well the fear and pain of those days. And the contrast between sharp white lights around me and the deep void in my head, gleaming in electric blue,' he paused and sighted, watching Kanda's glare morph into a frown.

'One day there were no guards anywhere and I ran for it until I collapsed, not thinking much,' he continued and snorted. 'They let me go to run some more tests in real environment, I suppose,' he spat angrily but then shook his head out of the rage. It didn't matter anymore. 'When I came to in the orphanage I remembered nothing but the time in labs, not even my name. I invented it on spot when Charlotte was questioning me, looking disgusted and untrusting at my right eye. It was then that I decided to not tell about it to anyone, ever, but it seemed by little curse caught up with me,' he finished with a sight, looking away.

In the silence that wrapped the room he heard the annoyed huff and a muttered "idiot rabbit". He turned sharply to Kanda and glared at him. And the continuous anger of the other riled him finally.

'What, you wanted me to show off with the stuff?' he demanded, his voice rising. 'Oh yes, I do see how the others would be understanding and considerate. How you would want to have anything to do with me, seeing how you love the Connex with deepest passion,' he added, sarcasm dripping from his every word, a glare from the other piercing him through. 'You always flat out refuse to have anything to do with the thing! How do you imagine me telling you that I'm a goddamn walking plug into it?'

Kanda had the grace to look away, but not without an annoyed huff, crossing his arms over his chest. Lavi scowled at the blatant show of hostility and, determined to not let the situation stay like that, he got up from his bed and walked up to the other. He saw Yuu stiffen slightly when he sat down beside him, knees pushed to his chin, arms wrapping them. He looked up at his friend with a gleam in his eye saying he was not letting the matter slide.

'Yuu,' he called out and waited until the other sighted and turned to him. 'I never asked for it. I never wanted it. I just wished to forget about the damn thing that kept messing with my head. Shut it out as much as I only could. You can't blame me for that,' he finished with his best pleading tone and stared straight into the dark eyes with determination. And when the other sighted out a "stupid rabbit" without resentment and shook his head, he grinned brightly.

'I knew I could count on Yuu,' he chirped away and his smile did not weaver under the glare.

'I'm still mad at you,' Kanda said flatly but there was no trace of the previous biting anger and it was all Lavi needed to know that it would pass with time eventually. They were good again.

'Mad about Yuu,' Lavi sang and giggle under yet another withering glare that disappeared as fast as it showed up, when they heard lively footsteps in the corridor and someone stopped by their doors. They both turned to look there and saw Alice enter the room, a wide smile at her face.

'You woke up finally,' she said as a welcome and Lavi immediately rang his chain, glaring at her.

'What's that?' he asked pointedly and her smile widened even more.

'That's in case you wanted to explore the place before we were ready to let you,' she said and walked up to them. She took Lavi's wrist and unlocked the cuff with a magnetic key. She did the same with Kanda's restraints, although a bit reluctantly for some unknown reasons, and gave them both some packages wrapped in plastic. Under their questioning gazes she explained that those were clothes for them to change after they refreshed themselves. After that she led them to the showers down the corridor and, when they were done, she took them few floors down.

'This looks like a hotel,' Lavi mused looking around. 'Where are we anyway?' Alice shot him a bright smile.

'It still is a hotel, although right now it serves also as a connection bay for those who can't afford their own gear or need a better one to satisfy their overgrowing need,' she explained lightly. 'Thus, no one would see anything suspicious in bigger or smaller Connex intensity here. Of course it's not the only place we use. We can't be all in the same place. This, however, you could call our headquarters,' she finished when they were already in the basement and she stopped there by some completely inconspicuous doors, turning to them with a smirk. 'Welcome to our little home,' she added and entered the room.

Lavi felt his eye widen as he took in the view. Lightscreens, hard drives, ventilators. Buzz or air and electricity. There were three ceiling-high walls of equipment with access spots on both sides of all of them. There were people working there with their headgear on, eyes completely unfocused. No one paid attention to them.

'I know where we are,' Lavi muttered thoughtfully and turned to Alice. 'Outside the City there are those communication nodes that manage lines with other cities. We're in one of those, no?' The girl grinned widely but, instead of answering, she turned on her heel and marched along one of the walls. Lavi caught Kanda's disgusted, disapproving look and smiled at him sadly, shrugging his shoulders. He nodded at where Alice disappeared and they both followed with no more comments.

As soon as they reached her, she pushed at the wall and doors appeared, sliding to the side soundlessly. There, a more agreeable space opened to them. The walls were bare and against one of them two lightscreens were gleaming. By the opposite wall there were two big sofas with a table between them. On one of them a man was sitting. He looked up and smiled at them as soon as they entered, getting up to greet them.

Lavi blinked surprised when he saw the man's face. He was definitely quite a few years older than him and had the strangest golden gleam in his eyes, where it should be bluish. His longish black hair was pulled back and he stared at them with a small, smug smile. When he walked up to them there was a strange familiarity to his moves that made Lavi's skin crawl.

'We finally meet, Lavi,' the man said and a strong shiver ran down the redhead's spine. He scowled at the man as his mind finally connected all the facts.

'You fucking son of a bitch,' he hissed through gritted teeth with all the anger and hate that were building up in him throughout all his life. The man smirked at his reaction and all Lavi could think of was the primal, overwhelming desire to scratch the smile off the face and dig his nails into the golden eyes to take them out.

* * *

 **AN: Reviews, favs and follows are greatly appreciated.**


	12. 001 01011 Freedom

**001 01011 Freedom**

Sharon woke up to the constant, persistent buzz of electrical equipment. She lifted herself up sleepily from what seemed to be a rather comfortable, if only slightly small bed. She gazed around, frowning, not recognizing a single thing from her surroundings. Oh right, the idiot creep took me somewhere on my bike, she remembered vaguely.

Her eyes snapped sharply open when her mind provided her with the view of a van speeding straight at them. The lights nearing them at quite a speed and then the few loud bangs from the gun. The van started slowing down with the terrible screech as Leo shot through the wheels and afterwards it flipped to the side and came to a complete halt. She remembered nearly losing her balance when the guy hopped off the bike and jumped to the car, shooting emotionlessly at the driver and the passenger. Sharon turned away then and clasped hands over her ears because it was way too much for her.

In the ringing silence she looked up again and, with the greatest shock, saw the two guys from Batcave coming from the car. The redhead, Lavi, stared at her equally surprised but before she could gather herself up to say anything coherent, a car came and took them. And Leo took her somewhere else but she never saw where as she passed away while they drove.

She gazed around again realizing that the room had no windows and that the dim light there was provided by a lamp. She shook her head, clearing it from all possible indications of the setting. She tried getting up and, with a sigh of relief, she stood up on her feet steadily. Finally, she thought and made her way to find the source of the buzz.

The place was extremely small, at least, according to her standards. In a few steps she found a tiny bathroom and exit doors, the latter locked firmly. There was nothing else, not even a semblance of a kitchen. And the buzz was still there. She gazed around with a frown wondering how she could miss anything in such a little space.

An idea popped in her head and she moved her hands up to her head and sure the new gear was still there. She felt for any kind of switch there and soon enough found one and the world around her burst out in electric blue.

Again, it was not the Inner but the level between here and there. Sharon sat down on the floor and focused on the pulsating, flowing lines of tension. Cautiously, she tried to filter the flow of information like she did last time and with great surprise she saw it worked equally fast and efficiently. Her head span from the rapid changes in her vision all around her and she had to shake away the mental nausea.

She frowned at the final results of her search. Under the floor of the place she saw a wide information band stretching far beyond the flat. It was so intensive that it must have been one of the main data transfers within the City. And, as far as she could see, in was not crossing paths with anything else, as if it had its own separate transmission tunnel. Was that even possible?

Some movement caught her attention and she looked up sharp ahead of herself. Her frown deepened.

Behind the wall she saw a large tension whirl that pulsated even faster than the trail below. She walked up unsteadily to the wall and from closer up she could see different shapes of the electric blue light. She tilted her head at the peculiar view and watched them mix and divide constantly. She watched with curiosity as-

A definitely human-shaped cloud of light quivered and walked her direction. Frightened, Sharon took a step back and with another she felt herself falling.

Only she never fell. She blinked the room in focus again and frowned at the dimmed colors and less three dimensional shapes... Inner! She gazed around frantically and sure enough, next to her, Leo was standing, hands in his pockets, smugness in his smirk and posture.

'Isn't it addiction if the first thing you do when you wake up is entering the Connex?' he asked mockingly and she glared at him for that.

'You left me alone in a place with nothing else to do,' she said accusingly and glared even more when he giggled.

'But you're not alone. I'm just on the other side of the wall,' he retorted cheerfully and she blinked away the anger in favor of curiosity.

'You're the quivering mass of blue there?' she asked and it was his time to frown. But then, in a matter of seconds, his face cleared and the smile was back.

'Well, I don't know what you see when you dive but it sure sounds like real fun,' he teased but didn't let her say any biting comment. 'Have you ever heard of Elliot?'

Sharon stared at him for a moment, confused. The name did ring a bell but she couldn't quite place it anywhere. It somehow felt connected to her job: she could swear she heard it there. Was it in training? No, it did not seem like a thing to be told to everyone enrolling. It must have been later on, when she was already specialized for diving and maintenance. It was- It is-

Sharon stared at Leo with wide eyes.

'How do you know about Elliot?' she asked in a shocked whisper and he grinned pretty evilly at her reaction. 'It's one of the top secret information concerning the Connex! You can't simply hack it!'

'No, you can't,' he admitted teasingly. 'But the fact remains that we know and we want it. And you will help us get it.' She stared at him incredulously.

'I have no idea where to look for it,' she admitted with a hiss. 'Anyway, why should I let you get a hold of the very core of Connex? If you do anything to it the whole net will collapse and we simply can't let that happen! You know how much depends on its stability? It would be a disaster! Everything- Everyone-' she stopped abruptly when Leo came closer to her, too close to her liking, and she backed away.

'Elliot is not the core of Connex itself,' he stated seriously. 'It's the core of surveillance system and works using minds of those who dive too deep and lose the way up.' Sharon watched him with her eyes wide, her mind suddenly blank. What did he just say? How come- How a program or protocol could use living people? It was impossible! It was just clearly not possible!

'The guys that were chasing you last night,' he started again, all trace of humor gone. 'I bet all I have that you somehow grazed the boundaries and Elliot sent them after you, following your digital trace. It was a pure miracle that my friend happened to be at Batcave and noticed you escaping. You were quite reckless but it seems you did find the right thing back there,' he finished with a pinning gaze while she stared at him wide eyed. What thing? Where?

Suddenly, she remembered the bright light in the former shopping centre. It was odd in the very least, she thought back then, but got distracted and never put much thought into it. Was it that?

She saw Leo's lips slowly turning up into the small smirk. She shook her head and wanted to protest against his hopes rising up but he beat her to it.

'Show me,' he said imposingly and she obeyed before she really thought what she was doing. She walked up to the guy and grabbed his arm.

'Help me up,' she requested and soon saw the Inner dissolving into to bluish glow. With all her effort she made them stop at the level of flowing electric blue trails. She traced the big line going under the flat and soon enough found herself at the Wall. From there she easily found her way around the town, jumping from one camera to another, like she did last time. Fast, she stopped by the requested place. As soon as she did that, she felt her mind being pulled deeper into the Inner.

She blinked away the surprise at the sudden changes and turned to look at Leo, who materialized by her side. She saw him grin widely as he took in the impressive, abandoned building in bare concrete.

'So this is it,' he muttered mischievously and he gazed at her with a bright gleam. He wanted to add something more but then he frowned and cursed pretty badly. And the next thing Sharon knew was that she was sitting again on the floor of the horrible flat, a red pulsating light illuminating the place.

She jumped on the spot as she heard a piercing, metal screech and she saw a part of the wall moving to the side. There, with the bluish glow behind him, Leo burst into the room hurriedly, dead serious. She watched him gather some stuff to the backpack and putting something around the place as he went. He kneeled in front of her and basically ripped the gear off her head, as he did with his own. He pulled her up with an urgent "move it" and led her straight to the exit. The doors opened when he tapped in the code and they found themselves in one empty, underground parking.

'What's wrong?' she asked annoyed with his behavior as he almost shoved her onto her own bike.

'They got our trace,' he said quickly and unlocked his guns. 'Drive,' he added and she complied quickly, starting out with a considerable acceleration.

She almost lost her control over the bike when she heard a loud bang behind them and felt a disturbing wave of heat hit her. She heard the guy snicker right to her ear and an impossible thought popped in her mind: did he blow up the flat?!

She had no time to ponder, though. As soon as they reached the surface, a car turned the corner and sped after them.

'Drive out of the City,' she heard the guy shout over the swishing air and she took a series of sharp turns to try and loose the pursuit. She felt Leo stir against her back and then she heard him shooting with his guns, leading to more screeching and crashing behind their backs. She had to use all her will not to cringe at the sounds or squeeze her eyes shut. With a constant stream of curses in her head she was driving on, the speed blurring her way and she could only hope they would manage to escape and not crush into a building on their way.

Her hope wavered, however, when she felt a heavier weight lean against her back and heard a shallow, fast breathing. And a painful gasp.

* * *

 **AN : Reviews, favs and follows are much appreciated.**


	13. 001 01100 Tormentor

**001 01100 Tormentor**

'You fucking son of a bitch,' Lavi hissed once again, his voice getting more and more malignant, threatening. He was trembling with anger and fear, barely keeping himself from jumping at the man. How dare he show his face in front of him so casually? How dare he talk to him?!

'I kind of expected you to react like that,' the man said with a sweet smile, his eyes piercing Lavi with the intensity of the gaze. 'In fact, I wanted to see that attitude,' he purred and it was absolutely enough to send the redhead over the edge. Blinded with rage, he shot from his spot and aimed at the smirking face with a strong blow.

Only it never reached the destination. Lavi blinked surprised and saw Kanda hold him and push him to the side, using his own momentum. His back collided with the wall, pushing the air from his lungs. Breathless he stared at his friend in disbelief and betrayal but met a stern gaze. Nevertheless, he frowned at him angrily.

'What the hell's wrong with you?' he asked accusingly and held the other's gaze, making Yuu step back under the glare.

'He'd only beat you up,' Kanda answered and it only made the redhead's frown deepen.

'You've got yourself quite a smart friend,' the man spoke up and Lavi ignored him with a snarl.

'Do you see me care? You know who this is?' he screamed at Yuu instead. 'Do you know what he did? He took my eye out and put the fucking shit inside! And you defend him!' Kanda twitched uncertainly at the words, his eyes widening in shock. He stepped away, a flash of guilt and sadness passing his gaze that soon hardened into a glare. He wanted to reply to the accusations but he was beaten to it by the man.

'That was so untrue,' he purred and two nasty scowls turned to him. 'I had nothing to do with mutilating your eye. I merely wrote the whole programming for it. Tell me, now, does it work well?' he asked with a teasing smirk. He didn't give Lavi a chance to answer, or rather spit some more insults at him, and continued lightly. 'Oh but I'm being rude! My name's Tyki Mikk, at your service,' he said with a tiny, mocking bow and gazed hungrily at the two. 'I know you, Lavi Martel but who is your dear friend?'

'It's none of your business,' the redhead spat angrily. 'He's got nothing to do with it so skip the farce and say what you want from me.'

'And here you are wrong, my dear friend,' Mikk said walking closer to them both. Against his reason, Lavi tried to back away into the wall even more. 'You brought him along and if he is here it means he will work for me as well. Thus, I want his name to know who I'm dealing with.'

'Kanda Yuu,' sounded quietly before the redhead could say anything. 'Now get to the point,' his friend said flatly with a tinge of annoyance and for a moment Lavi gazed at him carefully. That is, until he saw the curious gaze on Tyki's face. The man tilted his head and pierced Yuu with his thoughtful gaze. Could he know of Kanda's family? Lavi felt the panic rising when his mind provided him with what he found out some time ago and what actually could interest the bastard. He cursed his own stupidity at dragging his friend into this. If he let him alone there'd be no way for anyone to find him.

Briefly, he remembered that Kanda's parents were the ones responsible for the rapid and unbelievable development of the Connex gear. Opposing to Them to include Their advanced surveillance inserts the Kandas paid the highest price - their family was torn apart. They foresaw it, however, and managed to get Yuu away before the tragedy happened. The baby was carted off to an unnamed orphanage in Europe while the parents announced it died of an unknown cause. Not long after they were back, Yuu's mother died in a staged accident. And now Lavi shattered their efforts and sacrifices with his selfishness. He'd be damned if he let Mikk use Yuu.

Lavi glared at the man as hard and threateningly as he could. He glared until the golden eyes turned to him and widened a fraction in surprise. He glared when the small knowing smirk twisted the thin lips. Tyki knew and he knew that Lavi knew.

'Well then,' Tyki started lightly, his gaze softening. 'For a start, I want only one small favor from you. You'll go with my team to a certain location and then drop them all to Inner when they'll be ready to act. You'll keep an eye on them and pull them out when they're done. Or, when a danger will occur. From what I've already heard your friend might be quite helpful in that,' he added with a strange gleam in his eyes. Lavi glared briefly at Alice, who was surely the one providing the information on Kanda, and then turned to glare at Tyki again.

'And after that?' Lavi inquired suspiciously and his worst fears were mirrored in the sly smirk.

'You can't possibly expect me to let you run free, no?' he answered with a question and Lavi gritted his teeth at at the words, cursing under his breath. 'But you have nothing to worry about. I won't give you to Them to cut you up more. I have other plans.' The redhead blinked at him surprised.

'You're not with Them?' he asked and was graced with a mischievous smirk.

'Not anymore,' he purred. 'They failed to give me what I really longed for so I figured I could bring them down in revenge. And I happened upon the most fitting accomplice that answered to my desires,' he explained vaguely and Lavi only stared at him, thinking. He was about to speak up but then the peculiar beeping and flashing light distracted him. As it did with all the others.

Alice jumped to one of the lightscreens and worked her way through the code. In a matter of seconds she turned to Tyki with a worried face.

'Leo blew up his place,' she said flatly, at what Mikk's eyes widened a fraction.

'Find him. He has the most important information with him,' he ordered and the girl went down to work.

'He's not responding to the call, even on radio waves,' she said, frowning. 'They must have destroyed the headgear along with the flat.' Tyki cursed in the little moment when his sly face fell. But then, he smirked again. 'Try with the bike. It should leave a trace.' He turned to Lavi with an almost mocking smirk. 'Let me see your splendid abilities when you save our information source,' he purred pinning Martel with a heavy gaze and he cursed.

His eyes widened at a sudden realization: wasn't Sharon with that Leo guy?

* * *

 **AN: Reviews, favs and follows are much appreciated.**


	14. 001 01101 Saviour

**001 01101 Saviour**

Sharon was cursing out loud, as much as she could in the swishing wind of her speed, pushing the air back into her lungs. She was cursing, hearing the pursuit still on their tail. She cursed feeling the weight against her back slide just a little bit.

'Leo, god damn it,' she hissed at the guy and heard him gasp and he stirred a bit. 'Leo, where should I go?' she continued and whatever answer came she did not hear it over the loud swish of bullets. With a surprised squeal she turned yet another corner and then another right after that and drove down a narrow road of the very centre. She changed the direction a few more times and then slid into an open garage, stopping by the exit on the other side. She turned to her companion and saw him breathing heavily, eyes closed. She grabbed one of his arms and almost recoiled at the completely soaked sleeve. Soaked in red.

'Leo, hey Leo,' she called and he looked up at her lazily.

'Why did you stop?' he asked quietly, slowly.

'Cos I have no idea where to drive!' she cried and he hushed her. She continued in an urgent but lower voice. 'Leo, damn it, tell me where I should go cos otherwise we're as lost as right now, we can't go round endlessly and "out of the City" is simply not enou -' She cut short when she saw the guy rise the gun he was still holding. She stared at him with wide eyes and trembled when the weight rested on her shoulder.

There was a bang and only then Sharon realized Leo was not aiming at her. She turned around and saw one of their pursuers fall from the bike lifeless.

'Just drive,' Leo whispered wrapping his healthy arm around her waist and the pain in his voice made her snap into action sharply. She started with the biggest acceleration possible and sped out of the garage, almost running over another biker, who fell off surprised. One more to go, she thought frantically and she made her way straight for the gates.

Their pursuit was keeping well on their tail, despite the turns with which Sharon tried to lose it. Thankfully, there were no gunshots anymore. And she really felt like sighing in relief, until the West Gate appeared from around the corner. It was closing.

'No, fuck, not now,' she gasped shocked and stepped on the gas as hard as she could, determined to make it in time. Over the growing swish of the wind she still heard their pursuit following her actions but decided to lock that out of her mind for the time being. She gritted her teeth feeling how she was accelerating still and how the images started blurring on the sides. It was fucking insane, going at such speed, but she would not let the chance pass. No way in hell.

She did a curve from one side of the road to the other and she aimed for the falling gate from the side, taking a turn. Her knee almost grazed the ground but she kept herself steadily, despite the dramatic feeling of the weight on her back sliding ever so slightly from the tilt. She cursed in her head knowing too well that she could not grab the arm and steady Leo for she could not let go on the handlebars. She could only hope he'd fall on the other side of the gate.

Sharon stared wide-eyed at the gate falling down above her head as she slid under it at an insane speed. She felt the swish of air in the narrow space that was left for them to pass, she felt it push at her from every side. She felt asphalt brush against her knee. However, all this was somewhere beside her, it seemed as if it did not concern her.

She passed the gate and immediately but carefully pulled at the bike to come out from the turn. When she was fairly up she lifted her feet from the acceleration. She dared to let go of the handles with one hand and grab Leo's arm before he slid further. She felt him stir under the strong touch and wrap her with his arm momentarily more tightly. She heard him gasp against her back as he pulled at his wounds and she pursed her lips determined to get him to safety as fast as she could. But how?

She gazed briefly in the wing mirrors and saw the gate closed a no one at their tail. She sighted with relief in her head knowing that it would take some time before the security system allowed them to be opened. She knew all too well about it, since she was part of the security once-

Her attention snapped to the small screen on her bike when it flashed in dimmed red and beeped faintly. Her eyes widened when she saw the navigation telling her that the route was being loaded. What the hell? She gave it no such command! She could never do it when she was not wearing her gear and could not get into Connex-

She almost squealed when the bike took a sharp turn, almost throwing her and her luggage off. The screen beeped once again and it dropped into a sleep mode. Bike lights dimmed almost completely and it sped up a bit in the considerable darkness, in the distant glow from the City. Sharon tried pulling and pushing at the handlebars but nothing happened. She gritted her teeth yet again that night but dared not to jump from the bike, afraid how they both would take the fall. Afraid she'd never find herself in the wasteland. She hoped that wherever they were taken, Leo would get his much needed help.

Sharon felt immediately when the bike started slowing down at some point. She looked around and soon, after one more turn, they drove into the poorly lit street of a small town that once was probably vibrant with life but now blocked out windows were hiding empty buildings. She shivered at the sight of the ghost town and couldn't tear her eyes off the creepy neighborhood. She could only guess where they were, from her good knowledge of the City's surroundings, but no sign proved her right.

The bike turned into a bigger road, probably the main one, and more light appeared. Then it slowed down considerably and Sharon noticed that some houses still had glass in windows, although, they were still black and lifeless. She shivered disturbed by the eerie stillness and made herself look ahead instead of to the sides.

The ride did not last much longer. The bike turned into one gate and stopped at the parking place right before the entrance to a building that looked like a hotel. Maybe it still was one, although there was no one in sight.

Sharon killed the engine and tried to get off but the piercing pain shot through one of her legs. She frowned looking down and her eyes widened with a jolt as she saw the knee and thigh all bloodied, ripped clothes revealing torn flesh. She stared at it and felt herself start to tremble from the horrifying view and the pain that started to flood her and overpower all other senses. She'd have probably screamed if not for the shock she was under.

Over her own quick and shallow breathing she heard a sigh. She looked up with her clouded gaze and saw a strange man standing nearby. He was lean and tall, dressed in most crazy set of clothes in white and purple. His head was tilted, the white longish hair falling to the side. The only visible eye, red, was watching her carefully and the smirk played on his lips. He took a soundless step forward and his whole form shimmered in blue in the dim light.

'I'm delighted to meet you again, Sharon,' the man sang and the girl felt the greatest fear wash over her with a violent shiver. The voice, she thought when her mind cleared out in an instant, the damn voice, the same one she heard before she felt the electric current send her painfully unconscious. No, she pleaded soundlessly, not again.

But nothing happened. In the fearful stillness only black dots danced in front of Sharon's eyes when the pain was too much to bear. She felt herself falling off the bike, taking the unconscious Leo with her. She never felt when she hit the ground.

* * *

Raviews, favs and follows ar much appreciated.


	15. 001 01110 Preparations

**001 01110 Preparations**

Lavi was still fuming when Alice led them down the corridor. He was extremely proud of himself that he managed to contain his fury for the moment it took to set, through the Inner, the navigation in Sharon's bike. The freaking asshole kept him occupied after that, making him do hundreds of useless things in the Connex, while he sent Kanda with some other people to take care of the two that would come shortly. Lavi was not sure if he was angrier now that he had to do all the stuff or that Yuu was somewhere else. He was long way from trusting anyone here and he wanted the only truly reliable person by his side, however selfish that was.

'You know, Tyki is not bad as a boss,' Alice chirped away shattering the strained silence he created around them and Lavi glared at her for disturbing his thoughts.

'I don't give a damn,' he spat and turned away. 'I don't want to have anything to do with him,' he added softer then he wished to and glared at the walls around them.

'Why do you hate him so much? The easy access he gave you-' she shut up instantly when he glared at her murderously. He had to use all his will to stop the disgusted shiver that threatened to go down his spine. He still remembered very vividly the needles and scalpels, the pain and numbness. The aseptic white prison.

'You know nothing about it,' he hissed and turned away, gritting his teeth. Freaking net lovers, he cursed in his head, they treat it like a game or something. They have no idea how it is to not have no control over the connection. How terribly frightening it is to fall into the Inner in the worst moments, without a warning. How maddening it is to know that They are most likely tracing his every single, smallest activity in Connex. With the best help from Tyki Mikk, he thought seething with malice.

He would have bumped into someone, blinded by his rage, if the outstretched hands didn't stop him in time. He looked up and blinked away his surprise, his mind clearing out in an instant. He stared straight into Yuu's calm, dark eyes.

'Watch where you're going,' his friend scolded him with no anger in his voice but a concerned frown on his face. Lavi shook his head out of the previous thoughts. He called up a brilliant smile that was rewarded with a dismissive huff as the other let go of him.

'You're done already?' he asked brightly, all but ignoring Alice's comment about borderline mood instability. His face fell when he heard that the two retreated were undergoing surgery for the moment and were probably out of the game for some time. They both looked at the girl when she snorted and saw her staring at them daringly with a smirk and a gleam in her eyes.

'Tyki can't afford to have any of his few people out,' she said very much self-assured. 'I bet they will be up and ready by tomorrow and we'll go on with the plan.' Lavi winced at that. Well, it fit. The damn bastard would have a way to make people work even in half healthy state. He would not step away from drastic or experimental methods either, Lavi supposed. And now he got himself two more lab rats to be poked and prodded with some novelties. Damn this, damn this all to hell.

'Anyway,' Alice snapped him out of his thoughts again. 'We should get going for the meeting,' she reminded him and he winced again. He saw Kanda raise his brow questioningly and he sighted.

'The asshole wants me to meet his accomplice,' he explained as he went after the girl, dragging his friend behind, smiling at him widely. 'Yuu will come with me, right? There was nothing said that Yuu can't so there's probably no harm.' Kanda looked for a moment like he wanted to argue, but he said nothing, probably seeing that Alice also wanted to object. Lavi smirked evilly at his hidden victory in the inconsequential power play. He'd do everything to spite the freaking bastard and, by extension, his minions.

They went down another staircase and soon found themselves in another empty corridor. The girl took one more turn and stopped in front of huge, double doors. She opened them, tapping a long code into the control pad. They all stepped inside, into a room that once probably was the heating station, but now was visibly unused. The equipment looked rusted and ready to fall apart at the smallest touch. It looked very worn out and Lavi watched it fascinated as he walked in between all of that.

A soft chuckle snapped him to attention again and he looked ahead, his eye resting on the strangest man he's ever seen. He was dressed in the weirdest clothes in white and violet and had white hair. He stared back at them with his red gaze and a playful smirk twisting his lips. He felt very disturbing.

He took a step and Lavi's eye snapped wide open. He could swear he saw the silhouette gleam in delicate blue. How was that possible? It was the reality, right? He did a quick and shallow dive into the Inner and recoiled as the saw the man exactly the same as he was in real world. He dived deeper and still nothing changed.

Lavi surfaced fast and glared at the man nearing them.

'What are you?' he asked not waiting for the man to speak up. The weirdo stopped on the spot and gave him a deep, thoughtful look. He looked even more amused and curious, which looked really foreboding.

'Well, the right question would probably be "who are you" but I will omit that little detail in your favor,' the man said sweetly and Lavi could bet his voice sounded just a tiny bit distorted. 'My name is Xerxes Break and I'm very pleased to finally meet the one my partner was talking about so much. Seeing how you jumped into checking my digital trace, I have to admit that you are as graced with possibilities as he claimed you'd be.' Lavi scowled at the man, ignoring two surprised and confused glances he received from Kanda and Alice.

'What are you?' he asked again through gritted teeth, even though he could fairly guess the answer just then. He's heard about the strange occurrence in the Connex, he read the forums with worries and complaints. He's read how people thought it was a great scientific-fantasy but he felt it suspicious from the very start. Were his premonitions true?

The weirdo grinned quite evilly.

'I am the will of the people,' he started in a sweet voice. 'I am the awareness of the masses. I am the sentient incarnation of all the minds drowned in the Connex, brought to life by their deepest, if not entirely conscious, desires. I am the Inner penetrating through all the levels of reality and unreality. I am Xerxes Break, the ultimate existence of our world. And I do not share power.'

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

First came the sound. She heard the quiet beeping somewhere to the right. There was a sigh and a gasp from the left. She frowned. She remembered. She remembered collapsing in front of some uncharacteristic building, under the disturbing gaze of the white-haired weirdo. Sharon's eyes snapped open sharply and she stared into the white ceiling, panting, panicked.

There was a soft snicker to the left. She turned her head there and saw Leo lying on the bed on the other side of the room, smirking at her mischievously. She scowled at him and he giggled merrily.

'There you go again, staring at me like you've seen a ghost,' he said lightly and she frowned wondering if it was real or her mind was giving her the most troubling images.

'You're not dead,' she stated flatly and watched him laugh out openly and then hiss in pain as he moved too much. He took a few breaths, calming down, and then turned back to her with a wide smile.

'It takes more than a few bullets to finish me off,' he said smugly although his voice lacked some of its usual humor. Sharon watched wide-eyed how he started pushing himself up to prove his point. She would have protested, seeing how he winced and gasped, but he didn't look like he was going to stop. He sat up straight, one of his arms immobilized against his chest, probably to prevent him from pulling at the wound. He turned to her, slightly breathless, and grinned widely.

'See, I'm perfectly fine,' he sang. 'How about you?' Sharon frowned. What did happen to her anyway? She fainted, sure, but was it just the fatigue or was there something more? Suddenly, she remembered the terrible pain she felt in one of her legs. She grazed it, knee and thigh, to the flesh. She shivered feeling the dizziness overcoming her but she shook it off. She pushed herself up as well and pulled at the thin covers, holding her breath.

Her knee and thigh were thickly wrapped in bandages, elastic and strangely soft. She touched them and if not for the white color she'd say they felt just like skin. It made her feel strangely unpleasant and to block the disturbing thoughts, she moved, expecting pain or itch. However, nothing happened. She frowned, looking at her leg, and decided she didn't quite feel it, although she had full control over her limb.

She sat on the edge of her bed and let her legs bend in the knees. Still nothing. She didn't even feel the skin and flesh stretch under the dressing. What the hell was wrong with the wound? She brushed gently the bandage and then grabbed the edge.

'Whatever you have there, I wouldn't take it off just yet,' Leo said lightly and she looked up at him with a frown. 'It might still be messy.'

'How would you know?' she asked itching with more questions forming in her mind.

'Let's say I've been through quite a lot here,' he replied with a bright smile and continued, seeing her urgent gaze. 'The healing and anesthetic mesh skin they developed will make you operational but it still takes some time to get back what was torn off.' Sharon shivered at the very reminder of the sight she had seen before she passed out. She took a few deep breaths to calm her mind and dared a stand on her legs. She took a few unsteady steps and half sat, half fell onto Leo's bed.

'It's weird,' she sighted out. 'I don't feel it but I still can move around, almost.'

'You'll get used to it,' he said with a grin but then winced when he fidgeted on the bed. Sharon looked up at him worriedly and he waved away her gaze with his free hand.

'How bad are you that it doesn't work for you?' she still asked.

'It's not as effective with deep wounds,' he explained with a frown and then added with a whine. 'I can't let the big action pass without me!'

'What big action?' she asked suspiciously and almost shivered at his mischievous grin.

'We've tackled too many sensitive spots,' he sang. 'We gotta get moving fast and we will, since you're here and with all the information we were lacking.'

'Right you are, my dear Leo,' came a pleasant and, at the same time, strangely disturbing voice from the doorway. Sharon turned sharply in the direction and saw a handsome guy standing there, leaning casually against the door frame. He was smirking in a way a predator would and introduced himself as Tyki Mikk. He walked up to them and gave the girl a bundle of clothes. She took it and unpacked to see a black, shapeless overall, very similar to the one that Leo was once wearing. There was a nametag on the left side but, instead of a name, there was a number: 13.

'We can hardly use names out there,' Tyki explained gazing into her confused eyes. 'This is your work suit from now on. Any other clothes you might need you'll find in your room here. We even managed to get some from your flat when we scouted it,' he added with a meaningful smirk that made her shiver. 'Alice will take you there now while I will take care of the troublesome guy.' There was a sliver of threat in his voice and Sharon hasn't moved, ignoring the dark haired girl that came inside after the man. She saw a shadow pass Leo's face but then it cleared to a bright, if only a bit insane, smile.

'Will I get a reward for my job well done?' he asked happily, seemingly not noticing the small case Tyki put onto his bedside table. As he opened it, Sharon's eyes widened in clear shock: there was a large syringe and a vial of clear liquid. Mikk undid Leo's bondages and readied the equipment expertly.

'It was a failure rather than a good job but it gave us the opportunity to test the new medication accelerating healing,' the man explained. 'It will hurt,' he added and Leo nodded, for once not smiling.

Sharon was momentarily distracted when she was unexpectedly pulled out of the room by the other girl but she still heard a painful hiss behind her. She heard a soft cry behind the closing doors. Distraught, she followed the maze of corridors, not registering her surroundings. What the hell was this place?

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	16. 001 01111 Raid

**001 01111 Raid**

In the darkness of some abandoned building Lavi shot yet another quick glance at his one and only friend, whose face still carried the slight frown. It worried him. It was like that ever since Yuu and that Alma guy talked in hushed voices when he was asleep. When they thought he was asleep while in reality he pretended and listened to the edgy conversation. He felt just a tiny bit rotten to eavesdrop on his friend but the fear that came when he understood the words erased all the remorse. It was stupid, he knew, but realizing he was not the only friend of Yuu made him strangely worried.

It turned out that the two were childhood friends. While Kanda was raised in the orphanage, that took Lavi in when he was in his teens, Alma grew up in a normal family in the neighborhood. They met on the night raids in the forests surrounding the district, explored the forester's lodge and ran between the trees under the moonlight. Together. Until one night Alma didn't come and basically vanished into thin air. Lavi vaguely remembered that night when Yuu came back distraught and very down, the last night he sneaked out. Alma had apparently moved, his parents taking the decision last minute, leaving Alma no time to tell Yuu, about whom his parents had no idea. Back then Lavi didn't bother to ask what happened because the truce between them was still too fragile. But now he knew and understood more than was said.

He remembered the sudden emotions in Yuu's eyes when Alma showed up to rescue them. He noticed the slight changes in his friend's stance ever since they came to the damned hell place, the sudden lightness. And the frown after the overheard talk, when Alma explained everything and begged Yuu for forgiveness. Forgiveness he got, with ease that surprised even Lavi after how Yuu forgave him the secret of the Connex plug in his eye. He dreaded to know what the frown implied.

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and snap him out of his dark thoughts. He blinked Yuu's worried face into focus in the dark room and only then realized he was all tensed, clenching his fists painfully. He took a few deep breaths and willed his muscles to relax. He shot a fake, reassuring smile at his friend and watched him frown deeper at him. But he said nothing. He took the heavy weight of his hand from Lavi's shoulder and turned back ahead. The redhead watched him for a moment longer but then shook away the whirlwind of thoughts and tried to focus on their current task.

They were waiting, scattered, for a "clear" sign in an abandoned building, in the center of the City. They were supposed to rush into the abandoned building of a shopping center from before the Noise came on the other side of the street and retrieve some high tech equipment for the phantom creep Break and fucking pervert Mikk. They were grouped in two or three, each of them dressed in the same black overall, each wearing the Connex gear. Apart from him and Yuu: he never needed the Connex gear, Yuu never used one, thus was not given one to not risk him doing something stupid. Besides, he was there to keep an eye on reality. They both, however, still had the radio connection equipment to keep in touch with everybody else. They dared not communicate via the net.

He heard Alice fidget restlessly in her place, her hood already down and her face covered with a mask. She was to make sure he got into the right place in the right time. His own little guard, he thought with a snort.

Dismissively, he waved away the two curious looks that turned to him. And the still silence, punctured by shallow, slow breaths, surrounded them again.

There was a quiet static in the headphones and Sharon's voice sounded.

'Elliot still operating. Information flow clear.'

Lavi and Yuu looked at each other and pulled down the hoods, put on the masks and got up to get ready to leave. They waited for another call and soon enough heard Leo's voice, still not quite as light as usually.

'Inner clear. Fronts west and north, far enough.'

Right then. Wasn't it too good to be true? They were disturbing the Connex constantly lately and now they are given a clear passage. Suspicious, very suspicious. He voiced his doubts to his two companions and they nodded in agreement. Alice said over the radio that they all should have their ears and eyes open for any, smallest hints of a trap. The warning was acknowledged.

Then, after a few heartbeats they heard Alma's voice.

'Entrance cleared.'

Was there someone keeping guard?

Group leaders proclaimed their readiness for action.

'Go,' Tyki ordered and they all moved out of their waiting spots. Kanda led the way through the dark, underground corridors, as he was the one to memorize their route the best, not needing the directions and coordinates provided by the net. Alice closed their group, keeping an eye on their backs, keeping uncharacteristically silent. Then again, they were told in the briefing to be as discreet as possible.

Undisturbed, they reached the west staircase and started descending soundlessly. Over the radio, Lavi heard that only one group encountered an obstacle but eliminated it with no delay. They were all going according to their plan and with every easy step it made the redhead more and more worried. Why were they staying unnoticed? Why were they being let through? Damnit, they were heading for the most precious and important element of the Connex and nothing was making sure it was safe!

Were They so sure of themselves?

Were They so damn useless when someone was not using the Connex? Was it enough that they all disconnected and only some popped in and right out?

Half way down the stairs they met another group and together they reached the right floor. One by one they exited the staircase and slipped through the shadows under the walls. Twenty meters, they stopped by the wall, ten steps left, double doors. Oz, a short blond with looks of a teenager, fumbled with the lock, physical and digital. Lavi looked around as his eye got used to the almost complete darkness, punctured only by scattered diodes.

There were three figures nearing them from the other side of the floor. He narrowed his eyes on them but then he recognized two of them by their slightly slow and more cautious way of walking: Sharon and Leo. Miraculously healed, they still lacked the complete lightness of their moves. The guy, however, was able anyway to hold the two guns up and his arms did not tremble as he aimed at them, before recognizing them.

He shot a bright smile at the girl that looked as nervous as Lavi felt. Sharon smiled back, ever so slightly, and her shoulders relaxed a bit. Good, she's supposed to do some freaking important thing he didn't try to understand, Lavi thought. It was enough for him that he'd have to concentrate on his task: throwing most of them into the Inner to disconnect Elliot from that side and plant its double for the time it'd take them to retreat. In the meantime, those still in reality would do the same with the physical equipment. And away they go! Easy, no?

With a faint click and a beep the doors gave in.

Alice called the groups that were supposed to secure their exit, telling them that they were going in and they should start their work through the walls. They entered and locked the doors behind them.

The room was a bit brighter but still pretty dim. In the middle, there was a dark shape cutting out the faint light of the diodes. They neared it, carefully, trying to make no sound at all, scanning the surrounding for any other figures or a sign of movement. There was nothing.

'Information flow intact,' Sharon whispered to them and over the radio. Lavi glanced at her briefly and saw her eyes unfocused: she was probably somewhere inside the Connex. He was forbidden any form of log in as his trace was probably tracked and followed whatever he did. That was why, he'd go down only when they were ready to assure them as much time as they could before they're discovered. Not that he minded, though.

They stopped by the glossy, black wall of the big cube. The same guy that opened the doors started tapping codes at the pad. Those few seconds stretched into eternity of wondering what the hell was wrong that they reached Elliot without any major problems.

With a few faint beeps the black walls cleared into transparency.

Holy, fucking shit, was all Lavi could think as he stared through the glass. That was impossible, clearly impossible. That was sick!

In the glazed cube, wired and piped, a young man was sitting completely motionless. His fragile figure, strapped to a solid, plastic chair, looked like it could never carry him anywhere. His blond head was wrapped with a thick, metal ring that was connected with multiple lines to the high and wide backrest of his chair. What the fuck?

'What's happening?' came Alma's question over the radio and it woke them all up. As Kanda quietly reported the unexpected finding, Oz and Allen moved to open the glass barrier, looking fairly distraught. They vaguely heard Alma argue with somebody on how to proceed. No one expected a, supposedly, human being to be the control protocol and they were not prepared for the consequences. Finally Tyki told them to secure the body as well.

'We're on it,' Alice replied and was about to add something more but Sharon cut her through.

'It- he's sending out warnings,' she gasped out. 'I can't block all of them.' Some curses filled the air, punctured by the cracks of breaking glass.

'Let's jump in,' Leo suggested, switching on his headgear. 'Now,' he added urgently, glaring at them all in turns.

'We're diving,' Alice said to the radio and got an affirmation the other side was ready.

'Dive,' Tyki's voice sounded. Lavi searched out all three traces around him and the two from the party that was securing their exit that he was supposed to pull in and grabbed them all firmly. He dived with all of them, losing the lifeless guy from his sight but not from his head.

When Inner appeared in front of him, however, he could only curse out loud. He did not expect what he saw and he regretted being right: it was a trap.

* * *

 **Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.**


	17. 001 10000 Caught

**001 10000 Caught**

Fascinated despite his fear, Lavi watched the shimmering surface that surrounded them. A box with walls cut with electric blue tension lines, like bars of a cage. It was big enough to fit them all in, all four of them, he amended seeing that Lilly and Vincent from the other group were not pulled in. He tried to reach them but his own impulse bounced off the barrier. He frowned at it and then tried to aim for the surface. Nothing. He cursed and was about to try again but then a dismissive snort cut through his thoughts. He turned to the sound and his sole eye snapped open in surprise.

'I know your trace and I can block it however I see fit,' said the blond guy standing in front of them. He was staring at them with his electric blue eyes, smugly, like a master of a situation would. Elliot. Idly, Lavi noted that he had fashioned his Inner appearance to be much better and more imposing than his real, physical body was. 'And with it I can block all the other traces you pulled in,' he added with a cold smirk and Lavi felt a shiver go down his immaterial spine. Fuck it, he dragged them all into a trap. Mikk should have known that. Mikk... knew it. He wrote the program for his eye, he knew that whatever he did in the Connex, They could trace it faultlessly. He knew that if he appeared down here doing something suspicious They would catch him with no delay. He planned them being caught as soon as he made Lavi use it for this mission.

Fucking son of a bitch!

He had to get out. He had to get free and warn all the others! He had to get to them somehow and tell them to get the hell out of there, away from him!

He had to tell Yuu.

He pulled at the barriers with all his will. He clawed at them with his mental nails and tried to tear them apart with his mental teeth. He kicked and hit and pushed until the view trembled in front of his eyes. He blinked and then it was back to normal, unscratched, unchanged. Even the guy was still smirking at him.

'Keep doing that and your body won't be able to keep up,' the insufferable lofty voice called to him and he snarled at him angrily.

'When have you seen your body last time, Elliot?' he spat furious at his helplessness. Damn it, he had to think up something. Fast.

'My body is unimportant,' the blond said quietly, for a moment losing his smugness. 'It is being kept alive only to sustain the mind so it doesn't really matter how it looks.' Lavi frowned at the answer. He needed his body. If he somehow managed to tell the others to unplug it, cutting away the influence, they'd get free. But how? How, damn it, could he reach them?!

'What the hell are you?' Alice demanded finally waking up from her shock. The blond turned to her with his cold eyes and watched her for a moment carefully. 'You're a security protocol, damn it, just a simple freaking protocol! Not some half dead doll with its brains fried up and wired!' He smirked.

'Yes, who'd expect a living being to be used?' he mused humorlessly but not sadly. 'Then again, no human being ever came up with a machine as capable as a human brain, not in the tenth of it. So it was only natural to use a skillful mind and blend it with the system to build the best and the most efficient protocol. So, in a way, I am a protocol,' he finished with a dismissive smirk. Deeming the conversation over, he turned to the other two and frowned.

'None of you is the one who was blocking my warnings just a moment ago,' he stated and Lavi just had to smirk at that and he heard Alice snort. He frowned and looked to his side, expecting Leo to giggle or something at that but what he saw was a confused gaze fixed on the blond. He said nothing though.

'And my guess is that, because of your own cage, you can't reach the trace that is blocking you,' came a saccharine sweet voice from behind them and Lavi turned a bit only to see the creep Break walk around them. Outside. What the hell? Elliot frowned at the weirdo.

'I don't have your trace registered,' the blond said with a clear surprise. 'You... you don't really have one.' Break smiled widely.

'No, I don't. Because I never needed it and now I want yours,' he sang stopping right in front of Elliot, challenging him for a staring match. 'Your presence in the Inner and the Outer is an obstacle for my free existence and I plan to get rid of you or use you, whichever I see more fit. And now you locked and exposed yourself here for me perfectly.'

'Whatever you are you won't do a thing to me-' he stopped sharply and turned back to Lavi with a nasty scowl. The redhead smirked - it took him some time to realize, he thought. Ever since the damn weirdo Xerxes Break showed up Lavi led an assault on the connection keeping the blond nuisance of a guy connected to his body. He pulled with him Alice, Leo and Johnny and together they worked to get free. Elliot seemed to not have expected that. He seemed not to know that they knew how to forcefully unplug minds from the Connex.

The cage wavered once and they all watched the white, frail hand reach inside and grab Elliot by the collar of his suit. The blond pushed away but then crashed with his back against his own bars. He hissed when Break wrapped an arm around his neck from behind him and pulled him against the barrier. Lavi pushed further into the connection keeping the blond together and he felt the others follow. Just a bit more, he thought, just a bit. The resistance was lessening.

He didn't let himself be distracted when he saw figures appear in some distance from the cage, nearing them decisively. Damn it, some of the warnings went thought, he thought and pushed his mind further. He noticed the others realize it as well.

'Take care of them,' Lavi gasped to the others.

'The cage is still blocking, you idiot-' Leo cut his hiss and they all looked up in a reaction to some strange impulse. They saw Elliot, visibly fighting against the iron grip and their actions, aiming his open palm at them. In a blink of an eye, they saw Johnny tremble and flicker out of existence, unconscious or worse.

'I won't... let you,' Elliot gasped. 'I'm taking... you... with me,' he added moving his hand towards Lavi. He stared at him wide eyed and the redhead realized it was now or never. They had to do it. Together with Alice and Leo they pushed with all their might. In his head he was repeating over and over again what he had to do: cut Elliot off and get them out, cut Elliot off and get them out. Like a mantra it led him through the unbelievable and unexpected pain of his digital existence. It led him on and he knew the task burned into his consciousness. He would make it. He would.

He screamed at the top of his lungs with determination and pushed against the world exploding in blinding, electric blue. He pushed into the burning light. He pushed straight into the cold black until he could push no more.

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AN : Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.


	18. 001 10001 Lost

**001 10001 Lost**

Sharon watched the blue lines of connections from the perspective of a nearby camera, just above the building they were in. She limited the displayed information to single signals, still keeping Elliot's light bomb visible. She watched how it all flew around aimlessly, keeping an eye on anything that looked like heading their direction. She kept her eye on Elliot's stability as well. That's how she managed to start blocking his warnings as soon as they started.

Some calls for backup, however, escaped her. There were just too many. She warned the others about that.

A bit hazy from the effort, she watched how, in no time, Lavi and the others dived into the Inner and... disappeared. Her mind cleared out in an instant and when she wanted to search for them she realized that Elliot also was nowhere to be seen. What the hell?

She pulled back, with no small difficulty, and blinked the parking lot into focus.

The guys managed to go through the glass walls and were working now on the connection from the disturbing being that was the Connex's security protocol to the Inner. Sharon walked briskly up to them, past the four kneeling figures, and started checking everything on her own.

'We already went through that part,' a voice informed her and she looked up at the whitehead with a strange scar cutting through his pale face, visible above the mask.

'And it's all operational?' she asked the guy, Allen, wasn't it? He nodded and went back to his work. Sharon watched the lights with a frown. How come Elliot was not visible? How come it... he disappeared when nothing changed here? How come-

Her thoughts were interrupted by an urgent hiss on the other side of the machine. She went there and her eyes widened. The Japanese was holding up Lavi who seemed completely limp and was bleeding from the nose and from under the eye patch. Something was happening there, she realized, something serious was going on in the Inner and the redhead had real problems with it. She glanced at the other three divers and saw them all tensed but still kneeling up, their faces twisted in strained frowns. Damn it! She had to do something!

She jumped down into her level of reference but still nothing changed - the five signals were nowhere to be seen. She wanted to draw back when she saw two things that caught her attention.

Just by the place where the group was supposed to be she saw a new pulse. It was brighter than a normal one, more intensive and somehow seemed dangerous. She tried to push deeper but the only thing she managed was a brief glimpse of white hair and violet clothes. She felt a mental shiver shake her mind at the connection and she drew back. Whatever was happening, the creep had to handle it. Now she had another thing to take care of.

She gazed at few, new traces nearing them: the Fronts. Damn it, she was sure she let out only about two or three warnings and here she saw a dozen of them coming closer. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Could she try and unplug them from the level?

She turned her thoughts at the nearest trace and aimed a mental kick at the connection. And another. And another. The light wavered a bit but came back to the normal state. She cried frustrated and pushed with all she had at the thing. It disappeared.

Sharon blinked her mental eyes at the sight but focused quickly and pushed at another of the new traces.

When the third light disappeared the view in front of her eyes swayed. She knew all too well what it meant - she withdrew from the Connex, catching the last glimpse of five lights flickering on and off again. She resurfaced to find herself sitting on the floor, panting, exhausted. She looked up just in time to see the fourth diver, Johnny, collapse to the ground. She jumped to him and with a sinking feeling checked the pulse. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Sharon gazed at Kanda and met his wide, horrified eyes. She saw his hold on Lavi getting firmer. The redhead was still breathing, Sharon could see his chest raise and fall, although barely. She took a gaze around and watched like in slow motion as both Leo and Alice slid to the ground with two quiet thuds.

On shaking legs she moved from one to another and with a sigh of relief found them still alive, if only faintly. They were both twitching a bit. And then she remembered what was nearing them.

She snapped automatically and called to Alma via the radio.

'Fronts are coming,' she said as soon as she heard the connection get through. A moment of silence replied to her. In it she explained briefly from which directions and how many and she asked how much time the others still needed to get to them.

'We're almost there,' Alma said sharply and then told one of his companions to take over the escape route while he'd keep guard.

'We'll be evacuating more slowly than planned,' Sharon added before she'd stop herself. 'The guys from the Inner, they won't be able to move on their own, seeing how they look right now and, and what do we do with a dead body?' For a while she heard only static over the connection.

'What?! Who's- fuck,' there were some gun shots transmitted over and there were some frantic cries. And the connection was lost.

Sharon stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. They were ok, they were ok, they were ok, she repeated over and over again in her head. Then, over her own thoughts, she heard the faint hiss of laser cutting through the metal doors. She turned around to the sound and saw the little light point cutting through the barrier. She saw it move to the side.

In reflex and completely beyond her conscious control, she jumped over to Leo and unstrapped the guns he had on him. She unlocked them, barely registering her moves, and aimed at the opening hole in the doors. She stayed kneeling on the ground for better support and, as soon as she noticed movement, she fired, the sound of the blast deafening her in an instant. The only thing left in her awareness was a question, whether the gun's sound should not be muffled.

Sharon blinked away her own shock and the unexpected dust from the shot. What the hell did she do?!

She registered movement and saw Kanda lower his own gun and put it away just to let Lavi lie down gently. She caught his determined gaze as he took his weapon again and aimed at more coming people. The next shot unblocked her ears. Someone was calling her and she turned there, turned away from the falling people.

'We're done here,' Allen told her. 'Can you check how the guys are doing back in the Inner?' he asked shooting worried glances at the four lying figures. She shivered at the reminder of their state.

'I can't,' she said, focusing his surprised gaze on her. 'Somehow their traces disappeared along with Elliot and I have no idea what's happening,' she added not really explaining anything. She sighted resigned and cringed when she heard another shot behind her. In few fast steps she walked around the main machine there and hid behind the chair to dive down into the Connex.

The guys' traces were flickering on and off where they should be while Break grew in vibrancy. Damn, at least they were still alive, she thought briefly but then she saw what she feared to see: more Fronts were nearing them from all directions. She cursed out loud and with that she resurfaced.

'There's more coming,' she gasped out looking into Allen's wide eyes. 'We need to get out of here, we'll be trapped in no time and Alma and the rest... they're not responding.'

'We can't go out the way we came,' the whitehead pointed out.

'We can always blast them all away to dust,' said the last of their small squad, and angel face with wicked mind: Oz. He was smiling slightly, talking about sending them all to hell, if it existed anyway.

'You know that it might very possibly kill us all as well?' Sharon asked disbelievingly, watching now two mirroring smirks.

'So the plan is, we unplug this creep here, you bring back the guys and we make a big boom,' Allen said, reading into the other's thoughts if Sharon was judging by the eager nod he got. 'Better die like a movie star with a big bang and eternal fame then get killed by tech zombies, no?' he added and she just shook her head, resigned.

Together, the three of them pulled all the unconscious comrades behind the machine chair that would serve as a meagre protection against the explosion, while Kanda secured their retreat. Right after that, Sharon dived into her level and watched, when the wicked duo was finishing their work, as four bluish traces flicked into existence once again. Four? Shouldn't Elliot be off by now? She tried her luck once again and pushed deeper down.

She barely got the brief view of the Inner, four figures lying on the digital ground and Break standing above them. The creep kneeled and waved his hand and she felt the strong pull at her own mind. Next thing she knew she was back in the damn parking lot again, kneeling on the ground, panting. As soon the she came back, Oz and Allen grabbed the explosives they had at the ready and they jumped into action. They ran fast towards the Fronts, under the cover of Kanda's shots, and threw the unlocked load into the attacking crowd. In slow motion Sharon watched the duo run back to them and take cover behind the machine. She watched Kanda follow suit and hide Lavi away from the blast with his own body. She grabbed Leo's limp hand and leaned down above him, curling into a ball.

The light and explosion that surrounded them were unbelievable.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.


	19. 001 10010 Found

**001 10010 Found**

There was a painful static noise in his ears that he blamed for bringing him back from the comfortable darkness that was so warmly swallowing him moments earlier. He tried breathing in deeply but what he inhaled was dust and it threw him into the fit of coughing, tearing up his lungs. The action even more difficult for the great weight crushing him to the ground. But he managed, calming down finally, lying there for a moment, gathering his meager strength. Why the hell was he so weak anyway? Oh for fuck's sake, why he couldn't move at all? Why his arms were not listening to him? He focused momentarily on one thing: rolling to his side. He willed his body to listen to him properly and moved, the deed easier when the weight disappeared suddenly. He looked to the side and froze when he gazed straight into the impassive face of Yuu.

Lavi stared at his friend for a few heavy heart beats. He tried to drown the thoughts his mind was providing with the hope and denial he forced through. It was impossible, what his, suddenly hyperactive, brain came up with. It was simply impossible. Not now. Not like that. Not here.

He willed his body to move against the ache, against the numbness and stiffness. He made his hand slide towards his friend, reach his face in a shaking and unsteady motion. He braced himself for the horrifying chill but the skin was warm. He choked on his breath and a relieved, trembling whimper left his lips. His hand fell lower and he felt the short, fast breath tickle his fingers. Yuu was alive! He wanted to laugh or cry but instead he fell completely silent as a sound invaded his momentary bliss: a crack of a breaking wall.

With a deep fear settling firmly in his chest he dared to look around.

The ceiling was way too low. It was hanging over them at the height of the damn Connex machine backrest. Why were they behind it anyway? What the hell happened?

There was another crack and a painful sigh followed it. A string of vicious curses revealed the person to be Leo.

'Shut the hell up, you idiot,' Alice's annoyed and strained voice scolded Leo but he just ignored it, fidgeting around. 'What the fuck happened here?' she gasped out confused. 'I remember the goddamn blast but I thought it was something in the Inner when we were trying to cut out the freak but this... oh shit,' she cut short and there was a sound of someone shuffling around.

'Is it Allen there, under the rubble?' Leo asked with a hiss as he moved as well. Lavi had to breathe deep again to stop his head from spinning at the sights his mind provided. He tried not to listen to the sounds that were coming from the two.

There was a soft gasp somewhere to his side and he looked there, trying to ignore the sharp ache in his head as he moved it. He watched, in the dim light of the floor diodes, as Sharon pulled herself to kneeling position, holding her head tightly. She was panting shakily and clawing at her headgear. Soon enough she ripped it off and took a few deep breaths. Then she looked up and their gazes met.

'Lavi, you're alive,' she gasped out and he smiled brightly despite his bad disposition. 'Are you ok?'

'Quite well, I just can't really move a muscle and I'm aching all over,' he whispered not daring to speak louder. She watched him incredulously and only shook her head when he asked what happened. She told him to lie still while they'd try and find a way out and with that she left.

Lavi gazed again at the ceiling, frowning at how close it was from him. It did feel a bit oppressive, the great, cracked surface hovering threateningly over him. The weight it was supporting on top of itself, the weight it did not manage to carry and made it to cave in dangerously. Was it their cold concrete grave that just waited to fall down and crush them like meaningless ants?

Stop this, damn it! He scolded himself trying to calm his suddenly fast and shallow breathing. He squeezed his eyes shut and started counting down from one hundred.

Counting down his last seconds.

Oh for fuck's sake! It was not that bad, right? Right?! They would get out. They had to. They. Had. To. They would get out damn it!

He turned to Kanda and with the greatest effort slid down his hand to grab his friend's. Yuu, Yuu, can you hear me, he thought frantically, Yuu, we'll get out of here, I promise, we'll get out in one piece and all together. Please, Yuu, stay with me, stay with me till the end-

There was another loud crack of the walls and Lavi almost physically cringed at that. There was a low grating sound coming from the ceiling and he could bet he saw it caving down some more. He squeezed Yuu's hand tight, feeling dizzy from his too shallow, frantic breathing. He tried to move a bit closer to his friend but his body did not listen to him anymore. He felt both panic and rage fill him whole as he cursed away his damn, fucking pathetic excuse of a life. He hated it, hated it so much that he wanted it all to end there, instead of the fucking labs and machine chairs. Let them die like heroes. Let them all die tragically and be remembered forever. Let them-

The loudest crack ever reverberated through the whole, very limited space, making Lavi shiver and close his eye in the moment of nearing end.

The crack doubled and through the closed eyelid he saw light to accompany the sound. The weight he imagined falling onto his chest made him feel strangely light and numb.

Unexpected noise reached him in between the grating and cracking: whispering and shuffling. He frowned: this was not how death was supposed to sound. He opened his eyes and he saw his view blocked by a face. Alma.

'You're conscious. Good,' he breathed out in a rush. 'How's Yuu... oh my.'

'He's alive,' Lavi rasped out. 'Take him fast, take care.'

'What happened to him?'

'I... don't know. Sharon might...' he stuttered and then shook his head to clear it. 'No time for that. Take him and go, he needs help,' he urged him and they exchanged determined glares.

'Can you move?' Alma asked and pursed his lips when the redhead shook his head. He was probably told to save Lavi first, Lavi realized suddenly. After all, Yuu was useless to Tyki. Still, Yuu was Alma's friend and Lavi took care to remind him of that fact as he told Alma again to take Yuu to safety. Numbly, he watched as he moved to drag Yuu out and away while he stayed under the caving ceiling.

'Come on, rabbit savior,' he heard Leo say next to him and he frowned at him. The other giggled quite breathlessly. 'You look pathetic with all the blood and dust covering your face. I'll help you get to a shower, does it sound good?' he joked but Lavi couldn't quite laugh.

'I can't move -' he started his protest but the other waved away the words. Leo pulled him up by his arms and wrapped them around his neck. He gasped when the dead weight settled on his back but said no words of complaint. He moved on as fast as he could, on all fours, under the barely hanging ceiling.

Lavi started drifting in and out of consciousness when they were making their escape. He barely registered the changes in light and dark, the different kinds of sounds. He barely heard the loud and deep rumpling of the falling building. The heavy panting right next to his ear was the only constant telling him that he was still there.

It all stopped suddenly in the fresh air of a city, in the clear sounds of the night, in the warmly cold light of lamps. He looked up, barely seeing anything, and saw a circle of men surrounding their handicapped group. And with that view he finally lost it for good.

* * *

AN: thanks for reviews, favs and follows.


	20. 001 10011 Move

**001 10011 Move**

Sharon felt like cursing the whole world to hell and further when she saw the circle of tough looking guys surround the exit they took. Was it enough luck that they made it out alive? Well, mostly and not everybody unscratched, she thought remembering Johnny's body lost under the rubble and Allen's arm missing from the explosion he had caused. Wasn't it enough what they went through?

What would They do to them now? Did They need them, anyway?

One of the men stared at them all in turns, visibly listening to something over his gear.

'Put down your guns,' he said and only then Sharon realized that she still had the weapons in her hands. With a shiver and no real reluctance she kneeled and left the things on the ground. She followed the next instructions and kicked them towards the men. She was better off without them anyway.

The man scanned their group again.

'We're taking the redhead with us,' he said nodding towards Lavi and two of his companions moved forward. Leo snarled at them and took a few quick steps back. The men aimed their guns at them, efficiently making him freeze on the spot.

'The fact that we have to take him alive does not mean unspoiled,' the leader remarked with a sly smirk. 'Give him over and you might even survive,' he added.

'Don't fuck with us,' Leo hissed angrily, breathing heavily. 'You're not getting him or anyone else.' The man smirked wider.

'I wouldn't be so sure about that,' he mocked and nodded at the two aiming with their guns. They unlocked them and readied to fire. Sharon held her breath and fought not to close her eyes away from the execution.

The two fired and in the same moment, or split of a second before, Leo dropped down to his knees heavily, the weight of Lavi pulling him stronger and faster. He gasped very painfully and at the same time the two attackers hissed as well. They dropped their guns and grabbed their heads, screaming terrifyingly. She knew all too well what was happening to them, she saw it once. She's seen Break mess with Fronts' heads to the point of frying their brains. Their cries, echoing with those from her memories, filled the night silence and stunned everybody. And over them, she heard a comment over the radio.

'Sharon, Alice, help Leo,' sounded in Tyki's voice and both girls jumped towards the two guys. There was a swish of bullets but none reached them as they pulled the two up. They took Lavi off him, seeing how Leo's legs were trembling unsteadily from the urgent fall. He was panting heavily.

'Can you walk?' Alice asked worriedly and he only nodded, words probably too much to force through.

'Where?' Sharon gasped out and the answer came over the radio: "stay where you are manageable". She gazed around looking for any clue what was going on and saw the only guy of Alma's group, Gilbert, fighting with two of Them that were still not wailing in pain from the electric shot. He was proficiently kicking their asses and, in a few blows, was aiming one of Their guns straight at the leader. The man's smug face fell when all the cries died down.

'I wouldn't be so sure about you taking us anywhere,' Gilbert hissed indifferently and in a quick hit knocked the guy out. 'You are coming with us instead,' he added and in that very moment two cars pulled up to them. Tyki was driving the smaller one and he waved at them to load on fast. Gilbert tied and stuffed the unconscious man at the backseat and then moved up to them to help. He took Lavi from the girls and took them to the truck of the bigger car. They followed.

Sharon watched how Gilbert together with Alma arranged inside all their unconscious companions: Kanda, Lavi and Allen. The older man helped the barely standing Oz inside while Alice took care of Leo. The blond girl went in the last and gave the street filled with bodies one last look.

She blinked stunned when she saw two figures standing there, a tiny bit discolored, a tiny bit unreal. The tall, thin white-haired man that for sure was the creep Break. Next to him there was a rather handsome, young, blond guy that had a very displeased scowl on his face. He seemed very similar but way better looking than... Elliot?

The truck doors shut, cutting the view and drowning them in darkness. Sharon strapped herself with the belt when the car moved. The slight swaying and the drop of adrenaline made her feel really dizzy and sleepy and very soon she let her head lie on the shoulder next to her. It smelled like Leo, she thought drifting away.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Sharon parked her bike in front of Fort I. The building in front of her seemed both familiar and unfamiliar and she felt a strange itch when she thought of entering it. It all started there, the biggest change in her life. The grand adventure. Or was it just a silly dream if she was still coming to work as before?

'Sharon, thank goodness!' Reim greeted her, all but jumping at her with a tight hug. 'I thought I'd never see you again!' She wrapped her arms around him as well, a small, fond smile twisting her lips. And the guy jumped away from her very fast, visibly embarrassed by his bluntness.

'Why would you be so worried?' she asked hiding her amusement at the behavior, instead, trying to sound as casual and innocent as she could.

'Well, some strange guys came the other day,' he started uncertainly looking around as if he was afraid of surveillance. 'They came asking for you and with some suspicious questions but I just said I only have my readouts and you never mentioned anything out of the ordinary so I couldn't really help them. Are you in trouble?' he finished with a frown. Sharon grinned.

'I guess not,' she replied with a shrug. 'I got a message today that I can't skip any more days of work so I'm here.' Reim watched her for a moment carefully but then shook away the expression and smiled lightly.

'Anyway, I'm glad you're back,' he added and she replied she was as well. 'You're diving?' he asked with a small smile.

'Sure thing,' she said and went to the chamber. Like she always did, she kneeled in the centre of the floor. She put on all the equipment, even thought it was quite unnecessary for her now. She plugged the bracelet she was wearing to the headset and tapped the access code to it. For a moment she watched the metal ring around her wrist with a frown: she still didn't fully know what it'd do. Tyki was not a master of explanations and not the keenest person to do that. With a sly smirk he gave it to her and said she'd know what to do. With the same look he told her that she should go back to her work as if nothing happened because no record of her deeds was kept outside of his own, personal computer. Now that sounded like a threat but did she care really?

'I'm going down,' she said to the mic and heard Reim say it was all clear. She dived.

Sharon found herself in the Inner faster and easier that anytime before and felt the bracelet push her into some specific coordinates. In a split of a second she found herself in her body form, in the middle of Inner Market Square. She was not alone in the middle of the Connex users.

Right in front of her quite a handsome blond was standing, looking at her with his highly displeased, cold, electric blue eyes. His thin lips pursed, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, like he was forced to stand there and wait. For her?

'I knew someone from the Wall was meddling with this affair,' he said for a greeting. 'Although you were not my first guess.'

'Sorry to disappoint you,' she retorted in the same cold voice, suddenly angry at the tone of his voice. The damn digital apparition dared talk to her like that! Well, he's not anymore in the position to be so smug. She glared at him as imposingly as she could.

'You are supposed to show me around the surveillance system,' she ordered as soon as the task popped up in her mind. They stared at each other maliciously for a moment before he huffed annoyingly and turned on the spot with a dismissive "follow me". Sharon smiled brightly, foreseeing a promising cooperation between them.

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AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.


	21. 001 10100 Stay

**001 10100 Stay**

Lavi was sitting on the edge of the roof of a skyscraper. He was staring at the City glittering in bluish lights under the golden stars. It never ceased to amaze him how small the place seemed when you didn't see the empty and unused buildings standing in the maze of streets. When the lights were marking the inhabited space you could really see how few people lived there. And somehow, looking at the glimmering points calmed him down, made him feel at ease. If only in his sleep.

'Knew I'd find you here,' said a merry voice behind him and he didn't even bother to turn towards the owner. 'I didn't even need to follow your trace to get to the place.' Lavi shivered at the very mention of the digital trace. After their near fiasco of a mission he was bedridden for a few days. First he was regaining strength and then he was suffering from the biggest and longest headache he ever experienced. It was the result of Tyki's last brilliant idea: he decided it was better to tinker with his eye and changer the trace. To make it difficult for Them to find him, he said, but his gleaming gaze and a sly smirk said more. Lavi was sure the creep did more than that, changing the programming in more than one way. His brain had to catch up with it. Painfully. It still itched.

'What do you want?' he asked not hiding his displeasure but the girl paid it no heed. She flopped down next to him, the bright smile still stretching her lips.

'Tyki wants you to come by for a checkup,' she said lightly, swinging her legs over the edge like a little girl. 'And, since you don't answer his calls he had to send me over to make sure you get the message.'

'See if I care,' he replied with a snort.

'He also mentioned he's got some new gear for you, to check how it works,' she continued excitedly while he flinched with disgust. 'He said it's a new way to connect that he developed and wants to see it work in normal environment. We're all working in the lab so none of us is suitable but you-'

'He can stick the gear up his ass, if you ask me,' Lavi interrupted her annoyed.

'Would be just perfect for that,' she continued undeterred. 'And he told me to remind you of your little agreement, whatever it was about,' she finished and he gritted his teeth at the words. Fucking goddamn asshole! Freaking son of a bitch! Blackmailer from hell! How- he cut his thoughts short knowing it was no use. It'd change nothing and the creep would still have him in his hands. Fuck this life. Sometimes, he doubted if it was even better than being stuck to the chair in Elliot's place and drowned in the Connex forever.

'Whatever,' he hissed and winced at how familiar it sounded. Damn, he couldn't take over that habit, it spoiled social contacts. The girl was not to blame for his bad luck. 'Just leave me alone.' he sighted out and, with a corner of his eyes, he saw the girl shrug her shoulders indifferently and walk away along the edge of the building. He stared at the flickering lights trying to clear his mind out of everything.

He woke up staring at the black hole of the ceiling in his apartment. He loved the lack on light, blocked by the thick blinds, covering the windows tightly. He loved the silence of his own little space, isolated carefully from the outside world. He loved his self-imposed confinement.

Lavi followed his morning routine in the middle of the day and very fast made his way out of the flat. The sooner he was done with Tyki, the better. Out of reflex he stopped one floor below his flat and almost knocked on the doors to the far right. Almost. He withdrew the hand in time, before it touched the surface, and with a scowl he sped down the stairs as fast as he could. Damn his habits.

He took the subtram circling the outskirts of the City and got off in the West station. After quite a walk he entered the rundown hotel and went straight for the underground levels, opening one door after another with his personal code.

'My, that was fast,' Tyki greeted him with a sly smile. 'I expected you to postpone the visit as much as you could. As I'd let you,' he added heavily.

'I have work today so just get on with it,' he said as indifferently as he could, facing the creep. The man smirked wider but said nothing more, just motioned to the big chair in his own personal lab. Lavi suppressed the shiver that threatened to go down his spine and obliged. Tyki took a seat in front of him and a series of questions and poking and prodding followed.

'It seems the new software has integrated pretty well,' Melo concluded and then reached for a medium sized box at his desk. He pushed it into Lavi's hands and urged him to open it. It revealed a flat and wide metal ring that was big enough to fit a wrist. The surface was smooth and flawless and if it wasn't the certain man's making, the redhead would call it nice. But he knew better then to speak it out loud.

'There is an opening here,' Tyki said and traced his finger along the barely visible jointing of the two parts. With a barely audible click the bracelet parted in a half and spread wider to fit the hand through. With a frown, Lavi pulled it on and repeated the others motion to close it.

The equipment seemed weightless for its size and it was as cold as only steel could be. It was as uncomfortable for him as the headgear was but he knew it was clearly his wicked psychic. He barely listened to the instructions on the functioning, too preoccupied on not scratching off the intrusive cuff around his wrist. He was still fighting away the feeling when he was going back to his place, or rather to the Batcave, as it was already time to get to work. Oh damn, he'd eat something later. Maybe.

He was the first one to get there and to kill time and his thoughts he started arranging the furniture for the night in the club, polishing the glasses and doing all the small and useless things around the bar. He was so deep in thoughts that he never heard to door opening and one of his colleagues walking in. He would not notice them if the girl did not stop right in front of him. He blinked surprised at her and then remembered to smile the brightest smile he could call up onto his face without it being plainly fake. She replied with the same but then said the words that made his heart sink.

'You're not yourself lately,' she said and there was the real worry in her voice that he waved away casually.

'I don't sleep well,' he half-lied and went back to his work. The girl, however, did not leave it there.

'I know what's happening, Lavi,' she said softly. He stifled a snort: she had no idea. 'I know what troubles you and if you want to talk about it, don't hesitate. It would really help, it does. You know, Kanda would-' he turned sharply to her with a really ugly glare that shut her up instantly. He did not want to hear what she wanted to say. He did not want to listen to her petty consolations, no matter how worried or concerned she was. He would not have that as she knew nothing of what really happened. She. Knew. Nothing.

He turned on his heel and walked out of the bar, rage blinding him.

Only, he never made it to the doors. He crashed into somebody standing firmly at the exit. He looked up, clearing his mind and blinking at the displeased frown aimed straight at him and for him only. He stared into the dark eyes he liked so much and feared to see again.

'Yuu, what a surprise,' he exclaimed happily, calling up his best fake smile. 'I never expected to see you here again.' A deeper frown was his only immediate reply. Instead of speaking, Kanda just grabbed his right wrist and pulled the sleeve up, revealing the biting cuff there. Suddenly angry, Lavi tried to pull his arm away but the grip was too firm.

'What are you playing at, idiot?' he hissed sternly. 'You said you'd keep away from the thing.' Lavi glared at him and shoved his hand away from the grip.

'It's not like I had a choice,' he snarled and pushed past him and outside to the fresh air that he hoped would cool down his anger. And despair. He walked swiftly towards the stairs leading down the cliff and to the lake and started his march there. It didn't take long, though, when someone grabbed his wrist and span him around.

'What happened?' Kanda asked frowning and Lavi glared at him.

'Nothing. It has nothing to do with you so don't push into it too much. It's not worth it,' he replied flatly, keeping his anger in check.

'Why did they let me go just like that?' Yuu asked the question he never wanted to hear because he knew he could never lie. He would have to reveal the fucking blackmail Tyki used to assure his faultless assistance. Damn how the guy knew the right questions in the worst moments.

'Because I promised my full cooperation if they let you be,' he confessed and turned away with a sigh. 'I dragged you into this not telling you a damn thing and knowing very well you'd want nothing to do with it. I pulled you into danger that nearly took your life. I don't want any of that to happen ever again. And some things are bound to happen if we keep in contact,' the words he held deep inside fumbled out of his mouth, tripping over each other and he spoke faster and quieter. He hated how pathetic they sounded.

'You never came to the hospital,' Kanda said with a frown, sounding hurt. 'You were avoiding me ever since the fucking mission for that?' Lavi stared at him wide-eyed for a few heartbeats.

'But I fucked your life-'

'Do you see me care?' Kanda cut him through, glaring daringly. 'I'd never meet Alma again otherwise,' he added with a shrug and it made Lavi's heart sink.

'You're gonna stick with him?' he asked before he could stop himself, his stupid, possessive persona showing up suddenly. He bit his tongue too late and now Yuu was frowning at him strangely.

'Idiot rabbit,' he said finally with a huff. 'I'm back to work in Batcave.' Lavi's lips split in the widest grin in an instant. He walked up to Yuu and flung his arm around his shoulder, pushing him back towards the complex. In that one moment it didn't matter that Kanda was putting himself in danger or that Lavi was the cause of it.

'I knew Yuu'd never leave the pathetic little rabbit like me alone,' he chirped away stomping mentally at his doubts and remorse. He'd deal with them later. Maybe. 'Yuu likes me too much.'

'Whatever, idiot,' the other sighted, resigning himself to the hold. 'Just keep the crap away from me,' he added nodding at the digital bracelet.

'I promise,' Lavi said reading more to the grateful tone of the other's voice then to the pretentious words. Maybe, just maybe, he would manage to live this life. Somehow.

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AN: So than, it's the end of the story. Thanks for reading, faving and reviewnig.


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